Orlando Joseph Lopez, 23, of Clearlake Oaks was arrested Tuesday morning, according to Chief Deputy District Attorney Richard Hinchcliff.
Hinchcliff said Clearlake Police Det. Tom Clements developed the evidence necessary to charge Lopez and at about 9 a.m. Tuesday made the arrest.
The evidence Clements put together ties Lopez to the shooting that killed 4-year-old Skyler Rapp and left five other people – including the boy's mother and her boyfriend – wounded, Hinchcliff said.
Lopez and Paul William Braden, 21, of Clearlake Oaks had both been arrested on June 20 on allegations that they had participated in the shooting, as Lake County News has reported.
Police are still seeking a third suspect, 29-year-old Kevin Ray Stone of Clearlake in the case.
Hinchcliff formally charged both Stone and Braden on June 22 with murder, attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and numerous special allegations for shooting the little boy, his mother, Desiree Kirby, 22; her boyfriend, Ross Sparks, 25, and his brother, Andrew, 23; Ian Griffith, 19; and Joey Armijo, 15.
Lopez had been released from the Lake County Jail late last week after Hinchcliff said they didn't have the evidence to charge him.
However, Hinchcliff had said at the time that the investigation was continuing, and Tuesday's arrest was the result of those continued efforts.
Hinchcliff said he will charge Lopez with the same counts as Stone and Braden. If convicted on all of the counts, the men would spend the rest of their lives in state prison.
In the wake of the shooting, which police have confirmed claimed the largest number of victims of any shooting in the city's history, many community members discussing the case on Facebook and in article comments sections have clamored for the District Attorney's Office to seek the death penalty.
Hinchcliff said the District Attorney's Office isn't seeking the death penalty because it can't under the law.
He pointed out that death penalty cases must meet one of 22 special circumstances under Penal Code Section 190.2.
Among the special circumstances included in Penal Code Section 190.2 that allow the death penalty are if the murder was motivated by financial gain; if the suspect previously had a first- or second-degree murder conviction; conviction of multiple murders in one case; use of a bomb or other explosive device that either was hidden or mailed; the victim was a peace officer, federal law enforcement officer, firefighter, current or former prosecutor, a judge, elected official or a juror; the victim was a witness to a crime who was intentionally killed to prevent their testimony; the murder was especially heinous and cruel, or involved torture; the defendant killed the victim by means of lying in wait; the victim was killed due to race, color, religion, nationality or country of origin; the murder was committed during the commission of a number of felonies, from robbery and kidnapping to arson and sex crimes; the murder was perpetrated by discharging a firearm from a motor vehicle; and the defendant was an active participant in a street gang.
At the time of the shooting there had been speculation by community members that the suspects involved were gang members, but police and Hinchcliff have said they have not found evidence of gang involvement.
Hinchcliff said there is no firm court date for Lopez yet, although he could be in court on Wednesday for arraignment.
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