A 21-year-old man suspected in a fatal shooting outside an Indio residence who pleaded not guilty to murder is behind bars Thursday.
Ramon Manuel Romo-Tirado of Indio pleaded not guilty to the charge Wednesday afternoon at the Larson Justice Center in Indio, according to court records. His next court appearance is set for July 11.
Officers responded around 4:10 a.m. Feb. 19 to the 83-600 block of Cardinal Avenue and found a man suffering from a gunshot wound, according to public information officer Ben Guitron of the Indio Police Department.
Guitron said that the victim — identified in court documents only as “Ricardo D.” and by the Riverside County coroner’s office only as a 49-year-old Indio resident — died at the scene.
The man was found in front of a residence near a driveway and sidewalk area, Guitron told City News Service.
Police department detectives assumed the investigation and on Friday identified Romo-Tirado as the suspect, according to Guitron. He was arrested and booked into the John J. Benoit Detention Center, where he remains held on $1 million bail.
It was not immediately known what led police to identify Romo-Tirado as the suspect.
Anyone with information on the shooting was asked to call the department at 760-391-4051 or Valley Crime Stoppers at 760-341-7867 (STOP).