An 18-year-old has been arrested for a shooting at Moss Landing State Beach that claimed the lives of two teens earlier this week, the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office announced Friday.
Donald William Breeden, a resident of Greenfield, was taken into custody Thursday by the Sheriff’s Office on suspicion of two counts of murder with criminal street gang enhancements.
Shortly before 2 a.m. Monday, deputies responded to reports of shots heard in the area of Jetty Road in Moss Landing. Deputies found two Salinas teens, 15-year-old Marco Antonio Perez and 13-year-old Nathaniel Flores, who were pronounced dead at the scene.
A third person arrived at a hospital injured from a gunshot wound. A fourth person was transported from the scene with injuries that were later determined to be unrelated to the shooting and is expected to survive, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
On Thursday, sheriff’s detectives and SWAT Team officers executed two search warrants — one in the 900 block of Maple Avenue in Greenfield and the second in the 45000 block of Crown Avenue in King City.
“While an arrest has been made, our work is not over. We continue to ask the public for their assistance as we seek justice for Nathaniel and Marco Antonio and their families.”
Sheriff Tina Nieto
Three people were detained while serving the search warrant at the Greenfield location. After further investigation, the Sheriff’s Office said, Breeden was arrested. His bail was set at over $2 million.
Sheriff Tina Nieto said that investigators received information from the public that helped lead to the arrest.
“We want to thank the members of our community who came forward with information that helped our detectives reach this point in the investigation,” Nieto said in a statement. “Our detectives have been working tirelessly to determine what led to the tragic deaths of these two young victims.”
The investigation is still active and ongoing. Detectives are continuing to work on figuring out what led to the shooting. Anyone with information is asked to contact detectives on the case at 831-755-3773 or 831-759-7279.
“While an arrest has been made, our work is not over,” Nieto said. “We continue to ask the public for their assistance as we seek justice for Nathaniel and Marco Antonio and their families.”
Separate GoFundMe fundraisers have been established to offer support for the families of Marco and Nathaniel.
