ANAHEIM : Man Is Arrested in Immigrants’ Deaths

Police arrested a 23-year-old man Wednesday in connection with last month’s fatal shooting of two men who had recently immigrated from Mexico.

Jeffrey Williams of Anaheim was arrested on suspicion of murder and is being held in the city’s temporary detention facility, police said. Williams is suspected of killing Julio Bautista, 26, and Benjamin Ibarra, 25, who are cousins, police said.

“We’re still unclear as to the motive,” said Lt. Vince Howard. “We’re still investigating to determine why it happened.” Howard said that Williams and the victims were not neighbors and police did not know if Williams knew the two victims before the shooting.

The men’s bodies were found March 19 in a battered car in the 2200 block of Katella Avenue. One was in the front seat, the other in the back seat of the car, which was parked in front of a condominium complex. A relative who discovered the bodies frantically waved down traffic to get assistance for the men.

One man did stop and tried to administer emergency aid, but he said it was obvious both were dead.

Bautista and Ibarra were recent immigrants from the state of Michoacan, relatives said.

Javier Bautista, who identified himself as Julio Bautista’s uncle, described his nephew as “a very nice kid” who liked to hang around with his friends at a garage fixing cars.

Anaheim police credited Garden Grove police and the California Department of Corrections’ special service unit for assistance in the arrest.