:-: Kern County sheriff's deputies, FBI agents, Homeland Security and other law enforcement officials arrested Gustavo Perez Arriaga in a home in Bakersfield, California, about 280 miles southeast of Newman, where Cpl. Ronil Singh was shot :-:
After a two-day manhunt, California authorities say they have tracked down a man they suspect killed a small-town police officer during a traffic stop the day after Christmas.
Kern County sheriff's deputies, FBI agents, Homeland Security and other law enforcement officials arrested Gustavo Perez Arriaga in a home in Bakersfield, California, about 280 miles southeast of Newman, where Cpl. Ronil Singh was shot.
SWAT deputies surrounded the residence and Perez Arriaga surrendered without trouble, the Kern County Sheriff's Office said. Perez Arriaga was arrested on a warrant for murder.
Stanislaus County Sheriff Adam Christianson said authorities identified the man on Thursday.
“We were never more than a step behind this guy," Christianson said in a press conference.
Christianson said Perez Arriaga, 32, was living in the United States illegally.
Two other men, Adrian Virgen, 25, and Erik Razo Quiroz, 27, were arrested on Thursday. Authorities say they were trying to help Perez Arriaga escape to Mexico after Singh was shot and killed.
"We had them in custody, asked them for their cooperation and they lied to us," Christianson said.
Virgen is Perez Arriaga's brother, authorities said. Quiroz was a coworker.
Three other people from the Bakersfield house charged with aiding and abetting, according to Kern County Sheriff's Office. They were 59-year-old Bernabe Madrigal Castaneda, 36-year-old Erasmo Villegas and 57-year-old Maria Luisa Moreno, all of Bakersfield.
Perez Arriaga, who is from Mexico, worked sporadically as a laborer, authorities said. They said he had known gang affiliations and had two prior drunken driving arrests.
The following pictures of the suspect including a name & birth date have been circulating on social media. We can confirm these are pictures of the man who murdered Corporal Ronil Singh. We CANNOT, however, confirm that the correct name or birth date is being put out.
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Christianson said Perez Arriaga went by multiple aliases and operated Facebook pages under different names. He also said that Perez Arriaga was attempting to escape back to Mexico
“This suspect is in our country illegally," Christianson said. "He doesn’t belong here. He is a criminal."
Authorities said Virgen and Quiroz were also in the U.S. illegally.
President Donald Trump weighed in on the officer's slaying, using the manhunt to double down on his demand that Congress approve $5 billion for a border wall, the issue at the center of the partial government shutdown.
"Time to get tough on Border Security," Trump tweeted. "Build the Wall!"
There is right now a full scale manhunt going on in California for an illegal immigrant accused of shooting and killing a police officer during a traffic stop. Time to get tough on Border Security. Build the Wall!
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Newman Police Chief Randy Richardson fought back tears as he pleaded for help in the search.
“He loved being a police officer,” Richardson said, shaking. “He loved being a husband. He loved being a father."
“My department is hurting. We’re struggling through this.”
Singh, 33, is the first Newman officer to die in the line of duty. He was shot at about 1 a.m. Wednesday after pulling over a suspected drunken driver 100 miles southeast of San Francisco, authorities said.
Singh fired back at the suspect to defend himself, Christianson said. The suspect fled the scene. Authorities found an abandoned silver pickup truck.
Singh, an immigrant from Fiji, died at a local hospital. Authorities say surveillance photos from a nearby convenience store show the suspect, a heavyset man with short dark hair wearing a chain necklace, dark T-shirt and jacket.
Singh came to the United States to pursue a career in public service, authorities said. He joined the Newman police force in 2011. He is survived by his wife and 5-month-old son.
"He will never see his son walk," Richardson said. "He doesn't get to hold that little boy, hug his wife, say goodnight anymore because a coward took his life."
Singh's younger brother, Reggie, spoke at a press conference with police on Friday.
"He’s not coming back, but there is a lot of people out there that miss him," he said. He tearfully thanked law enforcement "from the bottom of my heart" for working quickly to make an arrest.
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