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Shooting suspect arrested in Idaho
Gabriel Miranda
Gabriel Miranda - photo by Photo Contributed

The man suspected of orchestrating a drive-by shooting that killed a 24-year-old Turlock man, was arrested earlier this week in Idaho.

Gabriel Miranda, 23, was wanted for the fatal shooting of Simon White. White was killed in a drive-by shooting that occurred around 10:45 p.m. May 2 outside a home in the 100 block of Vermont Street.

Witnesses at the scene identified Miranda as the shooter, according to the Turlock Police Department.

Miranda was taken into custody June 2 in Burley, Idaho, according to Turlock Police Lt. Ron Reid. The arrest was made without incident and Miranda remains in custody in the Cassia County jail. Plans are underway to bring Miranda back to Stanislaus County to face the homicide charge, Reid said.

Investigators have not elaborated on how Miranda was tracked to Idaho.

Miranda has had two arrests for driving under the influence — once in 2009 and again in 2010 — and currently has a bench warrant in Stanislaus County issued for those cases. In February he was arrested by the Livingston Police Department during their investigation into the shooting death of an 18-year-old man. Miranda was taken into custody on an unrelated warrant during the service of a search warrant at a vacant home, where he was hanging out with known Norteno gang members, who were the target of the Livingston homicide investigation.

Miranda has tattoos of the number 1 on one hand and the number 4 on the other. The number 14 is commonly associated with the Nortenos.

Jay Lenkersdorfer, the publisher of the Weekly News Journal in Burley said the town is fairly quiet and sees very little violent crime. Burley is the county seat in Cassia with a population of about 10,000 people and has an agricultural-based economy.