SAN PABLO — Police here are searching for a suspected Sureño gang member who is wanted in connection with a previously unreported March 29 fatal shooting.
At around 1:30 a.m., outside the Liquor for Less on 23rd Street in San Pablo, 25-year-old Juan Vargas allegedly shot and killed 26-year-old Emmanuel Rodriguez-Flores, according to police. Vargas has not yet been charged but he does have an active arrest warrant on one charge of murder and three counts of attempted murder, related to bystanders who were next to Rodriguez-Flores but not struck by gunfire, authorities said.
Vargas is a suspected member of the West Side Locos, a Sureño subset based in San Pablo and Richmond. Police have been searching for him for more than a month, but just recently released information to the public, after this news organization contacted them about the March 29 killing.
Authorities say that back in January, Rodriguez-Flores and one other person assaulted Vargas inside the store, then apologized to someone inside the store, explaining that they had to attack Vargas due to a gang feud. Both that incident and the shooting were caught on camera–San Pablo is known for being littered with security cameras and microphones that police can access at-will.
Though attempts to locate Vargas haven’t been successful, police arrested another suspected Sureño gang member on suspicion of having a stolen firearm, during a search of an area Vargas was known to frequent.
Vargas is considered armed and dangerous. Police say he is Hispanic, is 5′ 5″, weights about 150 pounds, has black hair and brown eyes, and sports a tattoo that says “blessed” above his left eyebrow.
Police are asking anyone who knows of Vargas’ whereabouts to call the San Pablo police investigations unit at 510-215-3150.
Surveillance footage of the shooting can be viewed below. It is graphic: