Vincent Arrellano Jr., 32, a Hispanic male, was shot on the night of April 24, 2019, in a neighborhood on the northeast side of Grand Island, Nebraska. Officers responding to a disturbance call found him with multiple gunshot wounds; he was taken to CHI Health St. Francis, where he died a short time later. Authorities publicly identified him two days later, noting the investigation was active and details were initially limited.
A funeral was arranged in Scottsbluff, where he had longtime ties, and an obituary remembered him as a husband and family man.
Within weeks, detectives secured a warrant for a teenage suspect. A 16-year-old Grand Island boy, later identified in court records as Arek Friedricksen, was arrested without incident on a murder warrant and charged in adult court. Early hearings described the allegation that he acted purposely and with deliberate and premeditated malice, while much of the case file remained sealed during the investigation.
As the case progressed, prosecutors pursued additional angles: in October 2019, an 18-year-old, Ernesto Guerrero-Zarraga of Wood River, was arrested as an accessory to a felony in connection with the killing. Meanwhile, defense counsel for Friedricksen sought a mental evaluation as proceedings moved toward resolution.
In 2020, the case concluded with a conviction and a long prison term. Friedricksen, by then 17, pleaded guilty to or was found guilty of second-degree murder and received a sentence of 40 to 45 years in the Nebraska prison system. Reports from the sentencing reiterated that Arrellano had been shot several times and died at the hospital the night of the attack.
