BY CRAIG SHULTZ AND DARRELL R. SANTSCHI
Three people have been arrested in the killing of a Hemet teenager, police said Thursday. Jan 17. Francisco Zavala, 20, was booked into Southwest Detention Center in French Valley on suspicion of murder, according to jail records. His bail has been set at $1 million. The other two suspects are juvenile males, ages15 and17, according to a news release from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department. They were booked into Juvenile Hall on murder charges. All three are residents of the unincorporated area of East Hemet, sheriff’s officials said. Eric Sargeant Jr., 16, was stabbed late Monday afternoon near the intersection of Acacia Avenue and CherrywoodDrive in what witnesses told deputies was an attack by three or four youths. He died later at Riverside County Regional Medical Center. Investigators from the Sheriff's Central Homicide Unit and the Hemet Sheriff's Station, with the assistance of the Multi-Agency Gang Task Force, identified and arrested the three suspects Thursday. Earlier Thursday, police dispelled rumors that have circulated on social media that the stabbing came in a dispute over a cellphone. “At this time there is no indication of the cellphone being a factor in the stabbing,” sheriff’s spokesman Albert Martinez wrote in an email. At least two public vigils have been held in honor of the 16-year-old’s death and Hemet Mayor Robert Youssef added his voice to mourners Thursday. “Hemet mourns the loss of such a vibrant young man,” Youssef said in a news release from the city. “Our deepest sympathies and prayers go out to Eric’s family and friends.” The release noted that the stabbing occurred outside the city limits in an unincorporated area of East Hemet, but it said the city has offered “all available city resources necessary” to assist the Sheriff’s Department in its investigation. A funeral service is scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday in the Hemet Church of the Nazarene, 42655 E. Florida Ave. The service is open to the public. Follow Darrell R. Santschi on Twitter @DarrellSantschi and online at blog. pe.com/crime-blotter