On March 25, 2024, shortly after midnight deputies from the Thermal Sheriff’s Station responded to reports of an assault with a deadly weapon in the 71000 block of Miramar Drive in Mecca, California. Investigators found evidence of a shooting in the 99000 block of Via Costa Brava but no victim or suspect at that location. The search led to Sea View Way and 72nd Avenue in North Shore, where the body of 17-year-old Francisco Ramirez, a Mecca resident, was discovered.

The Riverside County Sheriff’s Central Homicide Unit is handling the case and has treated the death as a homicide. In June 2024 authorities identified 20-year-old David Espinoza of Mecca as a person of interest; he was already wanted on an unrelated felony warrant for robbery and assault with a deadly weapon and had not been located.

Who in the Mecca or North Shore area might have seen Ramirez or Espinoza in the days around March 25?