Contributed

John W. Holcomb was confirmed Tuesday by the Senate to be a U.S. District Court judge presiding over matters in Riverside after spending his legal career in private practice, primarily focusing on intellectual property law.

On Tuesday September 15, 2020, at 1:11 pm, Riverside County Sheriff’s deputies responded to the 12000 block of Matthews Rd. on the Morongo Reservation to a report of a non-tribal member firing a handgun and threatening residents at that location. Deputies arrived and spoke with a male victim who advised the suspect, Michael Leyvas, 33, of Banning had threatened to kill him and was possibly in the garage of his residence.

On August 2020, deputies from the Perris Station Problem Oriented Policing Team learned of illegal narcotics sales operating on the 300 block of 4th Street, in the city of Perris. On September 15, 2020, deputies were conducting surveillance and identified 51-year-old Jose Varela of Perris and 67-year-old Homa Chism of Perris as primary suspects. Deputies conducted enforcement action which yielded numerous individual baggies of heroin, liquid heroin and miscellaneous denominations of cash consistent with drug sales. Both suspects were booked into the county jail for Heroin sales.

During the course of this investigation, multiple witness interviews were conducted, and corroborating evidence helped identified the suspect as Malik Minnix (49 of Eastvale), who was on Post Release Community Supervision (PRCS) during the time of the incident. An arrest warrant for Minnix has been issued and the Sheriff’s Department is requesting the public’s help regarding the whereabouts of Malik Minnix.

On Wednesday, September 23, 2020, at 8:28 PM, deputies from the Moreno Valley Station responded to a call of a male suffering from a gunshot wound in the 23000 Block of Hemlock Ave. Upon arrival they located multiple people suffering from gunshot wounds.