REDLANDS, Calif. — Redlands police arrested a 32-year-old Calimesa man Tuesday in connection with a fatal apartment shooting that left one man dead and two children in danger, authorities said.
Officers responded Tuesday morning to reports of shots fired and a man down at an apartment complex at on Kansas Street. When officers arrived, they found 36-year-old Aaron Richard Rivera dead from apparent gunshot wounds, police said.
Investigators said the suspect fled the scene after the shooting and left gas burners on the apartment stove while Rivera’s two juvenile children were sleeping inside.
Family members and evidence at the scene identified the suspect as Rivera’s half-brother, Zackary Aaron Brodowski, police said. Surveillance video from the apartment complex showed Brodowski leaving the area immediately after the shooting in a silver 2008 Ford Focus.
Detectives later located Brodowski and the vehicle at a residence in the 900 block of California Street in Calimesa. Redlands police detectives and members of the department’s Special Weapons and Tactics team established surveillance and arrested Brodowski without incident, authorities said.
Investigators recovered a firearm believed to be the murder weapon, along with clothing matching what the suspect was seen wearing at the time of the shooting.
Brodowski was booked into West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga and is being held without bail on suspicion of murder and attempted murder, police said.
Anyone with information related to the shooting or other suspicious activity is asked to contact Redlands Police Dispatch at (909) 798-7681, ext. 1. Certain non-emergency crimes may also be reported online through the Redlands Police Department’s CopLogic system or via the city of Redlands 311 mobile app.
