A woman accused of gunning down an acquaintance at a Temecula residence was charged Wednesday with first-degree murder and other offenses.
Nicaela Andria Hernandez, 32, of Temecula was arrested last week following a Riverside County Sheriff’s Department investigation in the 31000 block of Sunflower Way, near Temecula Lane.
Along with murder, Hernandez is charged with sentence-enhancing gun and great bodily injury allegations.
The defendant, who is being held in lieu of $1 million bail at the Robert Presley Jail, was slated to make her initial court appearance Wednesday afternoon at the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta.
According to Sgt. Mike Kelleher, patrol deputies were called to the Sunflower Way house shortly before 7 p.m. Friday to investigate reports of a gun assault.
Kelleher said that they found the victim, identified in court documents only as a woman with the initials “M.I.,” with a mortal wound to which she succumbed at the scene.
Hernandez was at the property and detained for questioning, according to the sergeant.
By the predawn hours Saturday, Central Homicide Unit detectives determined there was sufficient evidence to formally arrest the defendant on suspicion of murder, and she was transported to the Riverside jail.
A possible motive for the alleged attack was not disclosed, and it was unclear how Hernandez and M.I. knew one another.
The defendant has no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.