Two teenagers have been arrested in the shooting death of a 16-year-old boy in Moreno Valley last December, authorities said this weekend.
The shooting took place around 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 30, at a business in the 22000 block of Town Circle, according to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department. Deputies were dispatched to the site regarding an assault with a deadly weapon and found the victim suffering from an apparent gunshot wound. Despite lifesaving measures, he was pronounced dead at the scene.
“During the course of the investigation, multiple suspects were identified in this case,” sheriff’s officials said in a statement Saturday. “On Friday, April 10, 2026, homicide investigators, aided by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office Special Enforcement Bureau, Major Crimes Unit, Riverside Police Department’s SWAT Team, Riverside County Regional Gang Task Force, and the Moreno Valley Sheriff’s Station Special Enforcement Team, served numerous residential search warrants and arrest warrants in the cities of Hemet and Moreno Valley.”
During the service of the warrants, two suspects were taken into custody without incident. One was identified as Avon Owens, an 18-year-old resident of Moreno Valley. The other suspect, also an 18-year-old resident of Moreno Valley, was a minor at the time of the shooting and was not identified.
Owens was booked into the Cois Byrd Detention Center on suspicion of murder and the use of a firearm during the commission of a murder. The other suspect was booked into Southwest Juvenile Hall on suspicion of the same charges.
The investigation is active and ongoing, and no further information was released.
Anyone with information about the case was asked to contact Central Homicide Investigator Denham at 951-955-2777 or Moreno Valley Station Investigator Morales at 951-486-6700.