In the early morning hours of November 27, 2022, a sense of unease settled over a quiet, dead-end road in Norcross, Georgia. Responding to a call of a person shot on Estates Court, Gwinnett County police officers arrived to a grim scene. There, they found 22-year-old Alinton Joel Riveria-Zuniga, a Hispanic male, with a gunshot wound to the head. Despite the severity of his injury, he was still alive. Emergency medical services were immediately dispatched and he was rushed to a local hospital in critical condition. However, the efforts to save his life were ultimately unsuccessful, and he succumbed to his injuries later that day.
In the initial stages of the investigation, little was known about Riveria-Zuniga or the circumstances that led to the fatal shooting. Initially, authorities believed he was a resident of Texas, a detail that would later be corrected as investigators learned he was from Lawrenceville. As the Gwinnett County Police Department's Homicide Unit delved into the case, the trail began to solidify, leading them to their first suspect.
Nearly two months after the shooting, on January 19, 2023, with the assistance of the Gwinnett Police SWAT team and the Gwinnett Sheriff's Office Fugitive Unit, authorities apprehended 28-year-old Jose Caraballo of Lawrenceville. He was taken into custody and charged with felony murder, aggravated assault, armed robbery, and possession of a firearm during a felony. Following his arrest, Caraballo was booked into the Gwinnett Detention Center.
The investigation did not end with Caraballo's arrest. Detectives continued to pursue leads, and their persistence paid off. Several months later, on May 5, 2023, a second suspect was identified and apprehended. Brian Sanchez Duarte, a 30-year-old from Norcross, was arrested and charged with felony murder, aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm during the commission of certain crimes. He was seen leaving the scene of the shooting in a maroon Nissan Pathfinder. Duarte was also booked into the Gwinnett Detention Center, joining Caraballo in custody. While police have not publicly disclosed a motive for the shooting, they have confirmed that there are no other outstanding suspects.
