No charges filed after arrest in deadly drive-by shooting in Hanford

HANFORD, Calif. (KFSN) -- No charges have been filed after a 19-year-old suspect in a deadly drive-by shooting in Hanford was released from jail this week.

The shooting happened Wednesday afternoon in the area of Lacey Boulevard and 10th Avenue.

Hanford police say 23-year-old Cruz Avalos was making a turn in his car when he was shot by someone in a passing vehicle.

Avalos was rushed to the hospital, where he later died.

On Monday, police announced the arrest of 19-year-old Roman Perdue of Hanford.

"We have positively identified a suspect who is currently being taken into custody. He is a 19-year-old here in the City of Hanford. His name is Roman Perdue."

The arrest comes after police took a 16-year-old suspect into custody hours after Avalos was killed.

Over the weekend, police said that teen is no longer a suspect in the deadly shooting.

"It's not ideal the fact that we had initially identified another party who was, at this point, uninvolved in our shooting," said Hanford Police Chief Stephanie Huddleston.

"We were operating on information that we had and sometimes those mistakes occur. The most important thing is just to continue to investigate it thoroughly and make sure you know that that is the correct person and we were able to determine it was not."

While the 16-year-old is now cleared in the homicide case, he continues to face firearms charges.

Kings County Sheriff's deputies say they discovered a 9 millimeter handgun on him when he was arrested after fleeing the scene of an unrelated shooting that injured a man at the Santa Rosa Rancheria near Lemoore Thursday morning.

He was arraigned on Monday.

"The new charges that were brought against the 16 year old were relating to the offenses that the sheriff described last week," said Kings County District Attorney Sarah Hacker.

Hacker says the family of Cruz Avalos has been informed about the latest developments in the case, which she hopes brings them one step closer to justice and closure.

"My heart goes out to them. This is a tragic event. We really feel for their situation and what they're going through," said Chief Huddleston.

The 19-year-old suspect is now facing a homicide charge in connection to the shooting death of Cruz Avalos.

This is the third homicide this year for the City of Hanford.

On Thursday, Action News learned that Perdue is out of jail and no charges have been filed.

We've reached out to the Kings County District Attorney's Office, but have yet to heard back.

For news updates, follow Christina Lopez on Facebook, X and Instagram.