Merced Homicide Suspect Arrested in El Paso Texas
March 22, 2024 - Merced Police Department officials report that on December 2, 2020, at approximately 1:30 A.M. the Merced 
Police Department was called to the 1100 block of East Santa Fe Dr. regarding shots heard in the area. As officers arrived, they located 2 men, ages (37), (32) inside of an apartment who were shot. Both of those subjects were transported to local hospitals and the 32-year-old man was pronounced deceased shortly after.
As officers were checking the area, they located a third subject (37) found shot in the parking lot about 1 block away from the original shooting. This subject was pronounced deceased at the scene.
The investigation revealed that Anthony Perez (40) was one of the responsible suspects in this shooting. An arrest warrant was issued for Perez on December 17, 2020, and since that time investigators have searched for him. Merced Police worked with the U.S. Marshals Service to assist in locating Perez for his homicide warrant in Merced and several other warrants including an attempted homicide in Livingston, CA and a CDCR Parole warrant.
On Monday March 18, 2024, the U.S. Marshals served a search warrant at a home in El Paso Texas where they located and arrested Perez. Perez is currently awaiting his extradition to Merced.
In November 2021, Manuel Martinez (49) was arrested in connection with the shooting that took place in the parking lot of this incident. Martinez is still in custody and awaiting his trial.
Case Number: 20-67044
Merced Police are asking anyone with any information regarding this crime to contact Sergeant Salyers at 209-388-7771 or by email at SalyersJ@CityofMerced.org.
Other ways to contact us or report crime include:
For any emergency call or text 911
For non-emergency call 209-385-6912
Anonymous Tip Line (Non-emergency) call 209-385-4725
Anonymous Tips online at http://www.mercedareacrimestoppers.org/index.html.
Some crimes can be reported online through the Merced PD website https://www.cityofmerced.org/departments/police.
Source & photo: Merced Police Department
