Jose Martinez-Contreras, 21, a male of Hispanic/Latino ethnicity, was found just after midnight with a gunshot wound near Golden West Avenue and Condor Drive in Jurupa Valley, a community in Riverside County, on July 14, 2025. Deputies rendered aid and he was rushed to a hospital in critical condition; he later died from his injuries on July 20, 2025.
Though some memorial listings mark July 14 as the date associated with his loss, law-enforcement updates and subsequent reports note that his death occurred six days after the shooting.
Investigators quickly identified 19-year-old Lorenzo Howse Jr. of Bloomington as a suspect. With assistance from the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Special Enforcement Division and the Riverside Sheriff's Major Crimes Unit, Howse was taken into custody during a search warrant operation on July 18. He was booked on suspicion of attempted murder and robbery while the victim remained hospitalized in critical condition.
After Jose Martinez-Contreras, 21, male, succumbed to his injuries, detectives determined he had been the victim of an armed robbery shortly before the shooting and identified a second suspect, 19-year-old Darnell White of Jurupa Valley. On July 20, investigators obtained an arrest warrant and arrested White at his residence; he was booked on suspicion of murder and robbery. Authorities emphasized that the investigation was active and urged anyone with information to contact the Central Homicide Unit.
The sequence of events—an assault reported around 12:20 a.m. on July 14, 2025; emergency aid at the scene; the identification and arrest of Howse on July 18; the victim's death on July 20; and the subsequent arrest of White the same day—frames a case that investigators say began as a violent robbery and ended with two suspects in custody on serious charges. Public memorial pages list Jose Martinez-Contreras, 21, as lost to gun violence in Riverside County, while community crime summaries and local outlets echo the Sheriff's timeline and arrests.
