A man and a woman accused of killing 25-year-old Ivan Solis in a gang-related shooting in July pleaded not guilty in court Tuesday when they were formally charged with murder.
Nicholas Colletta, 20, of Saugus, and Jaqueline Arreola, 24, of Newhall, appeared in San Fernando Superior Court Tuesday for arraignment.
“Defendants Arreola and Colletta were arraigned today,” Ricardo Santiago, spokesman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office told The Signal Tuesday.
“Both pleaded not guilty,” he said. “They are due back for a preliminary hearing setting September 15.”
Both Colletta and Arreola are alleged to have willfully and deliberately, with premeditation, murdered Solis.
On the morning of July 11, about 5 a.m., the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station’s 911 center received a report of gunfire near Abelia Road and Via Gardenia near Soledad Canyon Road near Shadow Pines, Lt. Doug Mohroff told The Signal at that time.
Responding units discovered a male Hispanic adult dead from an apparent gunshot wound at Begonias Lane Park between Begonias Lane and Abelia Road.
Solis died of multiple gunshot wounds as the result of a homicide, Lt. David Smith of the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner told The Signal Friday.
Prosecutors allege in their complaint that Colletta shot and killed Solis and that he shot the man for “the benefit of, at the direction of, and in association with a criminal street gang.”
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