On February 4, 2024, in Soledad, California, 26-year-old Andres Chavita Garcia and his 20-year-old cousin Jack Canchola were shot and killed after leaving a family celebration to drive near the Salinas River. The cousins were confronted by at least two people in a light-colored, four-door sedan later identified as a stolen 2013 Kia Optima. Garcia and Canchola tried to flee in their pickup; during a pursuit both vehicles went off the road into a vineyard near the 41000 block of Los Coches Road, where the assailants executed them beside the truck.

Deputies responding to a distress call around 6:45 p.m. found both men unresponsive with multiple gunshot wounds and pronounced them dead at the scene. Investigators say the victims had no criminal records or gang ties and concluded the killings were a case of mistaken identity. Garcia was active in his local church, held an associate’s degree in agriculture and had been planning to pursue agricultural engineering; Canchola, described as a high-functioning autistic adult, worked at Enterprise Rent-A-Car and was studying diesel mechanics.

Authorities later arrested two adults from Greenfield, 18-year-old Jonathan Leal Cervantes and 32-year-old Pedro Manuel Nava, and a juvenile; each faces homicide charges connected to these killings. The community continues to mourn—does anyone who knew Andres or Jack have information that could help investigators?