For the second time in two weeks, and third time in the past year, Palm Springs police are investigating a possible homicide in the same area of the city.
In the latest incident, police said Friday evening they responded to reports of a traffic collision in the area of Rosa Parks Road and Granada Avenue at 6:30 p.m. When they arrived on the scene they discovered a vehicle had struck a power pole. Police said the driver had a gunshot wound and that the death was being investigated as a homicide.
Police closed off traffic in the area as the Crimes Against Persons unit, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department Coroner’s Bureau, and the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office began investigating the incident.
Friday night’s suspected homicide is just one block away from the scene of an incident reported on Feb. 19 that was eventually ruled a homicide. In that incident, police responded to the 600 block of Rosa Parks Road for a report of a suspicious death. Detectives later ruled the death was a homicide.
Whether the two incidents are related is unknown.
That area of the city is a known hotspot for reports of violence and gunfire. Prior to the Feb. 19 incident, the last reported homicide there was in July 2021, when a a 19-year-old Indio woman died from gunshot wounds suffered on Granada Avenue. No suspects have been named in that case.
As of this hour, Southern California Edison reports power remains out for approximately 90 homes in the neighborhood. It is expected to be fully restored by 2 p.m.
Friday’s suspected homicide is the third in the city this year. The first occurred on Jan. 11, when the body of a 32-year-old man was discovered in a parking in the 56000 block of Ramon Road. Witnesses reported that the man had been in an altercation with another man and that they heard gunfire following the altercation. No suspects have been named in that case.
Last year there were seven murders reported in Palm Springs.
