Ontario Man Arrested After Fatally Shooting Father in Front of Victim’s 2 Young Children
A man was arrested days after fatally shooting a father as he drove with his 1- and 4-year-old children in the backseat, police said Friday.
The unidentified father was driving near East G Street and North Vineyard Avenue around 1:30 p.m. Tuesday when he was killed, according to the Ontario Police Department.
The man crashed after being shot, and responding officers discovered the vehicle with a 40-year-old man dead and his two young children inside. Both children were in the backseat, and said to be safe and unharmed.
An investigation into the shooting led to Javier Alex Frias, 37, being identified as a suspect.
As officials searched for Frias Thursday evening, a citizen alerted police to a man hiding in a backyard chicken coop in the 200 block of East Phillips Street, a Police Department news release stated.
Frias was identified as the hiding man and was ordered to come out.
When he refused, a police K-9 was deployed and apprehended him.
Frias, a parolee, was transported to a local hospital and treated for injuries sustained during the apprehension, and later booked at the West Valley Detention Center.
He had loaded handgun at the time of his arrest, and a forensic examination would determine if it was the gun used to kill the father on Tuesday, police said.
Frias was believed to have known the father, but the motive for the killing was not immediately known.