Teen arrested in Fresno street vendor’s slaying. Here’s what led police to the suspect
A teenager believed to be responsible for the shooting death of Fresno street vendor Lorenzo Perez is in Fresno County Jail, with police and city officials saluting detectives for the suspect’s arrest and the community for rallying behind the victim’s family.
Demarcus Jaime Vega, 18, of Palmdale was taken into custody at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, initially on outstanding warrants, in the 1100 block of South Winery at an apartment complex.
Detectives were doing followup work, Chief Paco Balderrama said at a Thursday night news conference, when they “observed a vehicle and a suspect which matched the description in a recent video that they had obtained near the murder.”
The gun believed to be used in the shooting — one of multiple firearms recovered — and a vehicle sought in connection with the case were recovered, Balderrama said.
During questioning, Vega admitted to being involved in Perez’s killing, according to the chief. A possible motive and other details remained under investigation.
Perez, 45, was gunned down execution-style on Sunday in southeast Fresno, with witnesses saying it appeared his assailant was waiting for the vendor to come by. The gunman called Perez over and shot him in the head.
“Obviously this incident gained a lot of attention because it brought a lot of fear,” Balderrama said. “Why would somebody murder a street vendor in cold blood for apparently no reason? But the community has come together, they have shown they are not going to put up with this type of violence in our community.”
Gang tie under investigation
Balderrama credited typically unsung police work — the follow visits to the scenes, gathering of evidence and interviews — for leading to the arrest.
“Detectives Manny Romero and Chris Franks were conducting additional followup investigation in the area,” Balderrama said. “While they were near an apartment complex,” they spotted the vehicle and suspect.
“Various individuals” were detained and “multiple firearms” were recovered. Vega was one of the people there and was taken into custody on the outstanding warrants.
“After some investigation, we were able to get enough evidence to book him into jail,”
Balderrama said they recovered seven guns and detectives served a search warrant at a nearby apartment and recovered more weapons.
“We feel like we have the individual that committed the crime,” Balderrama said.
Balderrama said they could not validate Vega as a gang member “as of yet,” but said other gang members had been detained during the investigation.
‘Justice’ sought for family
Perez’s family was notified of the arrest, Balderrama said.
The chief said he also had spoken to them the day after the killing and promised the department would do everything it could to “bring them justice.” Perez was married and the father of four children.
“Today I had probably the proudest moment of my career here in Fresno,” said Balderrama, hired as the city’s new chief on Jan. 11, “... the ability to go in and talk to the family personally and let them know that we captured the person who killed their dad, who killed her husband.”
Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer and City Council President Luis Chavez also spoke at the news conference.
Chavez represents the neighborhood where the killing took place.
“I was on a Zoom call with residents last night from the neighborhood, about 28 of them, and I can tell you that the fear was real,” Chavez said, “for them to feel like there was somebody out there that was going to randomly shoot you in broad daylight. And now those residents can breathe a little bit of a sigh of relief.”
Reward, funeral funds grow
The reward for information that led to the arrest of the killer had grown by Monday to $21,000, city officials said. But ultimately, according to Balderrama, it was the work of detectives that led to Vega’s arrest on the homicide charge.
It is still possible that the reward may be paid out to witnesses or other members of the public, Balderrama said.
Chavez and Councilmember Esmeralda Soria set up a GoFundMe to help with Perez’s funeral expenses. The goal of $30,000 was increased to $125,000, but as of Thursday, more than $145,000 had been raised.
Chavez said a grocery store stepped up and is going to provide the family free groceries for a year and a person wants to provide free rent.
“Our community pulled together and rallied around the family and that was one of the most inspirational, beautiful things to see because that is who we are in Fresno,” Chavez said. “It really embodied who we are as a community where we have now many of you know the GoFundMe account. Anybody that is thinking about attacking one of our street food vendors, we’re not going to tolerate this. We’re not going to tolerate our street vendors getting victimized. They are hard working people.”
Dyer, like Chief Balderrama, said the arrest was a “bittersweet” moment.
“Bitter moment obviously because we lost an innocent man — a hardworking family man in our community,” said Dyer, the city’s former longtime police chief. “It is a sweet moment because we got to see, not only justice brought to a family as a result of the hard work that was put in by our investigators, but we also got to see our community come together.
“People came together as one Fresno and to offer condolences to the family.”
Vigil, mural planned in street vendor’s honor
Muralist Omar “Super” Huerta is honoring Perez by painting a mural at 1444 C St., and supporters of the family will gather in the vendor’s memory this weekend.
Huerta, who has painted many murals celebrating Fresno, invited the community to come out. He started the painting at 8 p.m., Thursday and will be completed Friday afternoon, he said.
“We don’t need more of this to keep happening,” he wrote on Facebook.
The “Protect Our Street Vendors Vigil” will be held Sunday.
The vigil will begin at 5 p.m, at Pilibos Soccer Park, 4945 East Lane Ave.
“Join us this Sunday March 28,” an announcement read, “as we come together to stand alongside Lorenzo Perez’s family and the rest of our street vendor community.”
This story was originally published March 25, 2021 at 5:53 PM.
