Police have arrested a man accused of shooting dead a father of two in front of his children during a road rage incident in Riverside this month.
Colton resident Jose Juan Escobedo, 64, was arrested Thursday and charged with murder and attempted murder in the death of 25-year-old Sergio Vargas Oporto. Escobedo was the aggressor in the road rage incident that led to the shooting, the Riverside Police Department said.
The shooting happened Feb. 3, when police said Escobedo was driving aggressively and appeared angry as he encountered Oporto – riding alongside his fiancé, 3-month-old daughter and 4-year-old son – on the road.
As they neared E. La Cadena Drive and Citrus Street, Escobedo pulled up alongside Oporto’s vehicle and fired a single bullet that just missed the baby girl before hitting Oporto in the head, the RPD said.
Oporto’s vehicle hit a palm tree, with his fiancé and children suffering minor injuries. Oporto died at a hospital on Feb. 10.
Oporto’s grandfather remembered his grandson as “very mellow,” “very respectful,” and nonviolent.
“Sergio was a good kid, didn’t harm anybody, was a family man, went to work and back,” uncle Jose Oporto said. “His priority was his family.”
Police believe Escobedo may have been involved in other road rage incidents. His family told NBC4 that he is innocent.
Source: NBC Los Angeles
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