Fatal shooting victim on Modesto’s Pine Tree Lane identified

A 31-year-old man was identified as the victim in Sunday’s fatal shooting in west Modesto, authorities said.

Jose Roberto Sepulveda was identified Wednesday afternoon as the man shot inside his house on Pine Tree Lane when two assailants forced a woman and three children inside the home before opening fire, according to spokeswoman Heather Graves of the Modesto Police Department.

Graves said the two suspects and Sepulveda got into a struggle before multiple shots were fired with at least one striking the victim. The suspects forced the woman and children into the house after they had just arrived home.

Graves said Wednesday the suspects, who are still at large, and Sepulveda may have known each other. The motive and details on what may have been taken during the robbery remain under investigation.

The shooting occurred about 9:40 p.m. on the house in the 800 block of Pine Tree, which is just off Paradise Road.

The suspects fled on foot.

On Monday morning, a neighbor, who asked that her name be withheld, said that not long before the shooting, her son and nephew alerted her to two men walking back and forth along the street and behaving suspiciously. The boys thought the men might be planning to steal a car that belongs to another of her sons.

When she went outside to confront them, the shooting already had occurred, she said, though she didn’t hear any shots.

The man she encountered leaving the area was maybe 5-foot-10 and 160 to 170 pounds, the neighbor said, and “not fat, but solid.” He wore a black shirt, blue jeans, a white baseball cap and white Nike Air Force 1 shoes, which she said she recognized because her son recently got a pair. The suspect was cleanshaven and in his late teens or early 20s.

The second man, whom the neighbor saw outside before but not after the shooting, was “a lot thinner, maybe 140 pounds, and a little shorter. He had on a red shirt with white block lettering and blue jeans.” He either must have run in a different direction than his companion, she said, or was already past her when she came out.

This story was originally published August 5, 2015 at 3:27 PM with the headline "Fatal shooting victim on Modesto’s Pine Tree Lane identified."