UPDATE: Detectives look for leads in shooting

Hazzard909 Mon Jun 04, 2012 2:56 pm

Sheriff’s investigators were still gathering evidence more than 12 hours after a late-night shooting claimed the life of a Rialto man in Bloomington.

At least 90 evidence markers were laid out along Jurupa Avenue near Maple Avenue, where deputies arrived at 11:49 p.m. Saturday, June 2, to find a man lying in the street suffering from gunshot wounds, said Jodi Miller, a San Bernardino County sheriff’s spokeswoman. Paramedics took the man to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton where he was pronounced dead at 12:25 a.m. Sunday, the San Bernardino County coroner reported.

The coroner identified the victim as 33-year-old Joseph Anthony Rojas. An autopsy has been scheduled to determine the exact cause of death, Miller said.

Miller said detectives had no motive for the shooting and no suspects as of late Sunday.

Most of the dozens of numbered yellow evidence markers were spread across a wide dirt median along Jurupa, just east of Maple. Many lined two distinct sets of tire tracks freshly set into the dirt, before they made a quick right turn onto the pavement. Clothes were piled at the south end of the three-way intersection, three red markers set nearby as deputies from the sheriff’s Scientific Investigations Unit continued their work.

The intersection where Rojas was found is in a semi-rural area dotted with homes with large yards and livestock. There are horse corrals in a large property on the south side of Jurupa, next to Kessler Park.

Detectives believe Rojas may have been attending a party at a house near the corner of Maple and Jurupa on Saturday night before he was shot. But they had not immediately determined what may have led up to the shooting, Miller said by phone.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Sgt. John Gaffney or Detective Stan Winjhamer at 909-387-8313. Anyone with information who wants to remain anonymous may also contact WeTip at 1-800-782-7463, or log on to www.wetip.com.