Fresno Police Chief Paco Balderrama announced the arrest of Abel Tello during a news conference on Friday.
He said Tello is a gang member.
The shooting happened Wednesday night near Parkway Drive and Olive Avenue.
Officers say they found 43-year-old Michael Hartley suffering from a gunshot wound in the parking lot of the Palace Inn.
Paramedics performed CPR on Hartley, and he was rushed to Community Regional Medical Center, where he later died.
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Investigators interviewed witnesses in the area who provided them a description of Tello.
Two Fresno Police Department's Gang Suppression Team members found Tello nearby and took him in for questioning.
He has been booked into the Fresno County Jail for Hartley's murder.