Man, 31, shot to death in first Santa Rosa homicide of year

Santa Rosa police have reported the first homicide of the year in the city, which occurred at 12:51 a.m. Saturday when a man was shot to death during an argument outside a popular Roseland food truck.

The victim was identified as Brayan Perez-Lara, 31, of Santa Rosa. The motive is under investigation, police said in a Nixle alert issued at 6:45 p.m.

Inocencio Dunuan, 27, of Santa Rosa, was identified as a suspect in the homicide, and was later found and arrested at 4 p.m. Saturday. Officers and detectives had interviewed witnesses and canvassed the area in west Santa Rosa overnight and throughout Saturday.

The two men apparently didn’t know each other, but were there to buy food, according to Sgt. Christopher Mahurin of the Santa Rosa Police Department.

The men were in a small walkway between the parking lot and the La Fondita food truck on the southwest corner of Sebastopol Road and West Avenue at the time of the shooting. Words were exchanged and the suspect took out a gun and shot the victim in the chest one time, Mahurin said. He then fled the scene in his vehicle.

Emergency medical services providers responding to the scene tended to Perez-Lara and transported him to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead shortly after, Mahurin said.

After a search warrant was authorized, a SWAT team and crisis negotiators surrounded Dunuan’s home in the 300 block of Asuelo Way and used a long-range acoustic device, an advanced public address system, to call him out of the residence. He came out and surrendered within 2 minutes, Mahurin said.

Dunuan has been booked into the Sonoma County Jail, charged with homicide, felony possession of a firearm and violation of probation, according to the Nixle alert. Dunuan was on probation for assault with a firearm, Mahurin said.

You can reach Staff Writer Kathleen Coates at kathleen.coates@pressdemocrat.com or 707-521-5209.