Ezequiel Radino Lopez, 29, was arrested on the 2600 block of S. Linden Way in Palm Springs on Tuesday, according to Cathedral City police Detective Sgt. Paul Herrera.
On July 14, 2012, the part-time security guard, whose name was not released, approached a man drinking in public at a commercial complex at 32220 Rancho Vista in Cathedral City and asked him to leave, police said. The man refused, a verbal exchange ensued and the man shot the unarmed security guard in the chest.
The two struggled for the pistol and the guard was shot three more times. The shooter ran off as police and paramedics arrived.
The guard was taken to Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs, where he underwent surgery and spent a significant amount of time recovering from gunshot wounds to the chest, upper abdomen and leg, police said.
“During this period of time we did not have enough significant information to make an arrest or to identify a subject,” Herrera said.
But a recent tip, along with a positive witness identification and physical evidence led to Lopez’s arrest.
Lopez was recently placed on AB 109 probation after being released from state prison on January 2012, according to Herrera.
The state Legislature approved AB 109 — also known as realignment — in March 2011.
It aimed to cut the state's budget gap and and to satisfy a U.S. Supreme Court mandate to reduce the prison population.
Lopez is being held at the Riverside County Jail in Indio on $1 million bail.