Feliciano Martinez Perea, an 18-year-old farmworker from Watsonville, California, was shot multiple times on April 2, 2022, at about 8:45 PM at a two-story apartment complex on Riverside Drive and later died at an out-of-county trauma center. Surveillance footage shown to investigators reportedly captured Martinez Perea being followed by two 18-year-old men, Erick DeHaro and Matthew Madriz, and walking backward with his hands up before the suspects opened fire. Police say the confrontation occurred in the complex courtyard and lasted only moments before gunfire.

Watsonville police, assisted by Santa Cruz and Santa Clara County sheriff’s offices, the Santa Cruz Police Department and specialized teams, arrested DeHaro on Lincoln Street in Watsonville and Madriz at his Morgan Hill home. The killing was the first homicide in Santa Cruz County in 2022. Martinez Perea’s family had moved from San Martín Peras, Oaxaca, Mexico a year earlier; he worked in the Pajaro Valley strawberry fields to support them and was described as not involved in gang activity. The investigation remains active.

If anyone has information about the shooting or saw activity near the Riverside Drive complex that night, please come forward.