Leonardo Valadez, 32, a resident of Cathedral City, was found dead inside a parked vehicle on the 68300 block of McCallum Way on March 10, 2020. His body was discovered at about 7:15 a.m.; he had suffered multiple gunshot wounds and was already deceased when emergency responders arrived. The Cathedral City Police Department opened an immediate investigation.

Police identified and arrested a 17-year-old male from Palm Springs later that same day, about 7:30 p.m., as he was leaving a residence on the 200 block of Saturnino Road. The arrest was made without incident and the juvenile was taken to Riverside County Juvenile Hall in Indio; his name has not been released because of his age. Detectives say the investigation is ongoing as they work to establish what led to the shooting and to determine a motive.

This was Cathedral City’s first homicide of 2020 and came amid rising homicides in the Coachella Valley. If anyone has information that could help investigators, please contact the Cathedral City Police Department.