Another shooting in Nampa
NAMPA, Idaho – The killing of a man found shot to death near a downtown parking lot may be related to a drive-by shooting last weekend at a Nampa apartment building, according to police.
Police found 28-year-old Edward Archuleta, who’d been shot in the chest, on Saturday night.
Law enforcement officers originally said Archuleta’s death was connected to gang activity. Now, they’re saying that while he had gang ties, he was more likely the victim of a dispute connected to a drive-by shooting on Nov. 21.
“We’re qualifying that we’d originally said it was gang-related,” said Assistant Police Chief Tim Vincent. “We’re finding out there’s some other motivating factors.”
On Nov. 21, an apartment was peppered by 12 to 14 shots. Police arrested Leticia Teeples, 34, a resident of the apartment, and William K. Medley, 21, on charges ranging from drug possession to possession of stolen property.
Police later recovered a vehicle that had been reported stolen on Friday and had gunshot evidence connecting it to the shooting.
After Archuleta’s body was found, dispatchers reported in police radio transmissions that officers were pursuing a van going more than 100 mph. Vincent said the vehicle was stopped and its occupants are being questioned.
Still, no arrests have been made, he said.
Authorities also are investigating another drive-by shooting in Nampa in which a home was hit by nine shots, which may be linked to last Friday’s gunbattle in a movie-theater parking lot, police said.
“It’s all connected,” said Vincent in an interview on Sunday.
Since July, police have received close to 200 reports of shootings in Nampa and Caldwell, the county’s two largest cities. Two Caldwell men have been killed, houses have been targeted by drive-by shootings and drug arrests have been made as police struggle to quell the violence.
When they found Archuleta Saturday, Nampa officers had already been busy investigating the other shooting from earlier in the day. At least nine shots were fired in an attack on a Nampa residence at around 3 a.m.
Although some bullets penetrated the walls and entered the home, three adults and six young children inside weren’t injured. Shell casings from .45-caliber and .380-caliber weapons were recovered at the scene.
Vincent said that shooting may be related to a gunfight last week at the Nampa Reel Theatres parking lot that left Clemente Lopez, 26, of Nampa, with a gunshot wound to the arm.
“It’s a back-and-forth that’s been going on for some time,” Vincent said. “We think it’s connected with the Reel Theatres shooting. It appears to be Caldwell and Nampa factions going back and forth.”
No arrests have been made in that shooting.