Suspect Identified In Ramirez Slayings

WEST END, February 17, 2023 –The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department late today identified the grandson of George and Sonia Ramirez as their likely killer.
George Ramirez, 72, his wife, Sonia Ramirez, 68, and their son, David Renteria, 43, were found dead in the home they lived in on an otherwise usually quiet cul-de-sac in the unincorporated San Bernardino County West End district shortly after 9 p.m. on January 30.
George, a retired carpenter, woodworker and furniture maker, and Sonia were the progenitors of a large family and had lived for some time in the 1,350-square foot, two-story three-bedroom house located at 4804 Ramona Place in the unincorporated county area north of Chino, south of Montclair, west of Ontario and east of Pomona and the Los Angeles County line.

Deputies working out of the Chino Hills Sheriff’s Station, which is roughly 6.4 miles from the home, were dispatched to the scene at 9:09 p.m. by an unidentified individual, believed to be one of the three other residents of the house, who came upon the bodies shortly before the call was made.
The first deputy arrived on the scene after a driving time of about 11 minutes, followed by his colleagues and ultimately a team of detectives. A preliminary investigation was begun, which determined that the three had been killed by gunfire. That probe intensified after dawn the following morning, with neighbors contacted by a team of homicide investigators. Some nearby residents said they heard what they thought were fireworks going off earlier in the evening of January 30. Owners of three of the homes immediately adjacent to the Ramirez residence submitted to consensual searches of their yards and property.
Initially, investigators theorized that the killings might have been gang related.  Though 4804 Ramona Place falls within an unincorporated county district, properties there bear Ontario mailing addresses, as the Ontario Post Office provides mail delivery to that area. Located as it is between Pomona and Ontario and just north of Chino, the West End, which remained an agricultural zone even as portions of it were converted to single family residential properties in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s and saw both Chino and Montclair engage in annexations that contracted its borders, over the years has been considered disputed turf between the Pomona 9th Street, the Chino Sinners and the Ontario Black Angels gangs.
Nevertheless, from the outset there was an indication that the violence that befell the Ramirezes and Renteria originated much closer to home.
As of mid-morning on January 31, Pete Anthony Renteria, 29, who was said to be the grandson of George and Sonia Ramirez, the nephew of David Renteria and one of the five occupants of the residence, had not returned to the location, at which point he was determined to be a person of interest in the investigation.
Investigators quickly learned that he had been charged on February 25, 2012 with a violation of Penal Code § 246.3(A)-F: discharge of a firearm with gross negligence in the City of Fontana, for which he had been convicted and served 487 days confinement and that he was charged on December 7, 2013 with another felony, Penal Code § 246-F: shooting at an inhabited dwelling/vehicle/etc. in the City of Upland. He was convicted in that case and sentenced to three years in state prison.
In 2020, Renteria was again charged on May 7 of that year with another felony, a violation of Penal Code §  29800(A)(1)-F: being a felon in possession of a firearm, and was convicted 19 days later, on May 26, 2020, of that charge. He was sentenced to 16 months in prison with the proviso that he would have to serve half that time.
Investigators would learn that Pete Renteria had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia  and that he was in a constant state of fear based upon both real and imagined circumstances in his life. He had, on occasion, evinced or expressed a fear of members of his own family. For that reason, he had armed himself on multiple occasions in the past.
Pete Renteria’s bouts of paranoia had been controlled in the past by the administration of anti-psychotic medication.
In the course of his brushes with the law, he had also been arrested and convicted of use of or being under the influence of a controlled substance and had failed to make several court appearances. He was also charged with a violation of community supervision and the terms of his past probation.  He had been subject to a court order in 2016 that he participate in a domestic violence counseling and educational program.
During the searches carried out the morning of January 31, a handgun was found in the yard of a house immediately adjacent to the Ramirez residence. The sheriff’s department has not said whether ballistics tests on that gun match up to the bullets that killed the Ramirezes and David Renteria, nor whether the gun could be tied to Pete Renteria.
The Sheriff’s Department today announced that Pete Renteria is now considered the primary suspect in the killings of George and Sonia Ramirez and David Renteria, and he is regarded as a fugitive.
-Mark Gutglueck

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