PASADENA (CNS) - A man pleaded not guilty today to murder in the shooting death of a Montebello man found outside a strip mall in the unincorporated South San Gabriel area last month.
Felipe Sanchez, 30, is charged with killing 36-year-old Ramon Gomez, who was found unresponsive about 7:30 p.m. Jan. 18 in a strip mall parking lot in the 8100 block of Arroyo Drive and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Sanchez is being held at Men's Central Jail in lieu of $3.05 million bail and was ordered to return to court on Feb. 22, when a date is expected to be set for a preliminary hearing.
Authorities have not said whether Gomez and Sanchez knew each other.
Sanchez was arrested a week after the shooting by Baldwin Park police officers who spotted the 2008 Nissan Pathfinder he allegedly used in the crime in a retail parking lot, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
Sanchez and a 32-year-old woman driving the vehicle were taken into custody ``without incident,'' and the woman was later released, sheriff's officials said.
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