Suspect's mom led to drive-by arrests

Collier County sheriff’s deputies were led to the two 18-year-olds allegedly involved in Tuesday’s fatal drive-by shooting in Immokalee after receiving information from the mother of one of the men.

Elvira Juarez, 42, the mother of Henry Mancha, arrived at the Immokalee substation at about 10 a.m. Wednesday and told authorities her son had been driving the car that Roberto Carlos Argueta shot from, and that her son wanted to talk to investigators. Deputies arrived at her home in LaBelle at about noon and found the blue 1991 Cadillac involved in the shooting parked in the backyard.

Mancha was transported to the Immokalee substation, where he admitted to driving the car during the shooting and said Argueta was the gunman.

The motive for the shooting appears to be retaliation for an earlier argument. Mancha told deputies that shortly before 8 p.m. Tuesday he received a call from his brother saying that a fight involving 18-year-old Hector Ramirez Jr. had occurred in Mancha’s home.

At about 8 p.m. Tuesday the two men drove by a home at 1304 Peach St., and fired shots into a crowd of people gathered in the front yard, apparently targeting Ramirez.

Melinda Gonzales, 30, a married mother of four young children, was shot in the head and died at Lee Memorial Hospital.

Ramirez was shot in the ankle while sitting next to a tree with several men. He was discharged from North Collier Hospital on Wednesday.

Investigators found Argueta at about 5 p.m. Wednesday after receiving a tip that he was in a car in Immokalee. He was found in a car on Roberts Avenue with two other men.

Sheriff’s spokeswoman Kristin Adams said the other two men in the car were spoken to and deputies determined they were not involved with the shooting.

Sheriff’s deputies arrested both Mancha and Argueta on Wednesday night.

Mancha was charged with murder not premeditated and attempted murder. Argueta was charged with premeditated murder and attempted murder. Authorities said both Mancha and Argueta are affiliated with a gang.

“The information we have received indicates it was only those two persons in the (blue Cadillac),” Adams said. “If anyone has any other information, we’d be interested in speaking to them.”

Gonzales’s family members said Thursday they are happy Mancha and Argueta have been apprehended but don’t understand why the two men targeted their home.

“My feeling now is, eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,” said Gonzales’s cousin, Mary Valdez.

“I’m a Catholic and I know I’m not supposed to be thinking like that, but I hope they put them in prison and the convicts do a lot of things to them when they’re in there.”

A viewing for Gonzales is being held today from 6 to 9 p.m. at the First Baptist Church on Lake Trafford Road in Immokalee. The funeral will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church.

The Crime Victims State Fund is contributing $5,000 toward the funeral and will provide the family an additional $2,500 for each of Gonzales’s children.

“They also said they could give the children counseling and will try to help them as much as they can,” Valdez said.