Two suspects who were arrested Friday following a police pursuit in Indio were captured inside a pickup truck matching one linked to the Wednesday shooting of a teenage boy in Coachella, officials said.
The suspects, described as an 18-year-old Hispanic man and a 16-year-old Hispanic boy, both from Indio, were arrested following a pursuit that began at 3:52 p.m.
Sheriff’s deputies say officers from the county’s Gang Task Force recognized the truck as one that matched a dark colored Ford Ranger seen driving away from the scene of a Wednesday afternoon shooting that left a teen hospitalized. The victim in the shooting, which occurred around 5 p.m. on Orchard Avenue, was hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries, deputies said.
When authorities attempted to stop the truck Friday afternoon, the driver sped away, triggering a pursuit that ended “minutes later” near Gemini Street and Vargas Road. The suspects were detained, though deputies did not elaborate on their possible connection to the shooting, other than to say that “law enforcement personnel are actively conducting their investigation to determine if subjects involved in the vehicle pursuit are related to the recent incidents in the city of Coachella earlier in the week.”
Wednesday’s shooting occurred less than a day before two other juvenile boys were shot in the city.
At about 3:50 p.m. Thursday, deputies found one boy with a gunshot wound and another with a graze wound in the 85800 block of Avenida Grace, according to sheriff’s Deputy Robyn Flores.
Both boys — whose ages were not disclosed — were hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries.
Deputies did not release any suspect information in regard to that shooting, but have said that “there is no threat to the public safety at this time.”
Anyone with information was asked to call the sheriff’s Thermal station at (760) 863-8990.