One dead after Sunday shooting

A 41-year-old man was shot to death Sunday morning in Clovis in what the suspect described as an accident after an argument.

The victim, Ruben Mireles, was found with a bullet wound to the chest and his girlfriend, Destiny Padilla, 23, applying pressure on the wound with a t-shirt at Padilla's apartment at 2101 W. Grand Ave.

Police received a call about shots being fired about 9:30 a.m. Sunday. When officers arrived they learned the suspect had fled the scene.

When emergency personnel arrived at the scene, they found Mireles had no pulse and began to apply life-saving measures on him, records show. They were able to get a pulse on Mireles and transport him to Plains Regional Medical Center where he was pronounced dead, police said.

Padilla told police that Mireles and a Hispanic man she did not know entered her apartment arguing among themselves. She told police the yelling got louder when the unidentified man pulled out a gun and shot Mireles.

Padilla told police she had only seen the shooter one other time, with Mireles.

As police searched the scene, they found the shirt used to apply pressure to Mireles' wound had an identification card located within it. Records show the ID belonged to Jessie Ruiz, 31, who is on probation with the Clovis Adult Probation Office for a felony aggravated assault.

Tracking through a GPS ankle monitor, officers located Ruiz at 308 N Reid. Records show that officers were able to use the GPS to confirm that Ruiz had been at the scene of the shooting.

During questioning he told police the shooting "was an accident," records show.

He said he had a relationship with Padilla and was at her apartment when Mireles stormed in to confront the couple.

Ruiz told police that Mireles was "cussing him out" and started to "rush him to fight him."

He told police that he grabbed a gun from the nightstand and shot Mireles. Ruiz said the gun belonged to Padilla and that he left it at the scene before leaving and going to a friend's house to burn the clothes he was wearing during the shooting.

Ruiz on Monday was being held without bail at the Curry County Adult Detention Center where he was booked on the charge of murder in second degree, tampering with evidence and possession of a firearm by a felon.