Riverside Man Held in Boy’s Fatal Shooting

A man was charged Wednesday with the Christmas night killing of a boy shot in what Riverside police said was apparently a gang’s retaliation on the wrong home.

Martin Valdez, 19, of Riverside was arrested and charged with murder in the death of Maximiliano Miranda, 11, and assault with a deadly weapon, police spokesman Steve Frasher said.

Frasher said Valdez drove by the boy’s Riverside home Sunday night looking to retaliate for gang gunfire at a nearby party early Saturday.

Five people were wounded with non-life-threatening injuries at that party.

“Valdez fired at Miranda’s home, thinking it was the person he was trying to retaliate against. The intended target was elsewhere on the same street,” Frasher said.

Maximiliano died at a hospital Sunday from a wound to the chest, he said.

The boy’s family had moved to Riverside two weeks ago from Orange County.

“My heart is broken,” the boy’s tearful father, Oscar Miranda, said at a news conference Wednesday.

Frasher couldn’t confirm that Valdez is a gang member but he said that “this had all the hallmarks of a gang-related shooting.”

Valdez is scheduled to be arraigned Friday.