On March 17, 2023, at about 2:00 a.m., deputies answered reports of a shooting at an apartment complex in the 7000 block of Auburn Street in northeast Bakersfield. Officers found 42-year-old Jose Antonio Contreras, a Palmdale resident, suffering from at least one gunshot wound; he was pronounced dead at the scene.

A 36-year-old Bakersfield resident, Valeria Galvez, was arrested that night on suspicion of murder and held while the Bakersfield Police Department conducted its preliminary investigation. On March 21, 2023, the Kern County District Attorney’s Office requested further investigation, and no charges were filed against Galvez at that time; she was expected to be released pending the additional inquiry.

There have been no public updates about subsequent arrests or the identification of other suspects. If anyone has information about Contreras, his movements that night, or the incident at the Auburn Street apartment complex, please share what is known.