Two Arrested After Fremont Fatal Shooting

A Fremont homicide case that had been sitting unresolved since early February just moved forward. Police said two men — 19-year-old Kaleb Soto and 42-year-old Ricardo Duran — were identified in the killing and later arrested after a completely separate police call in Hayward. That matters because the original shooting, near Central Avenue and Joseph Street, was Fremont’s second homicide of 2026. The new piece is simple but important — investigators now say the suspected shooters are in custody. ### What happened in Fremont? The case started on February 3, 2026, at about 4:19 p.m., when Fremont police got multiple 911 calls about a shooting near Central Avenue and Joseph Street. Officers found a victim on the ground, gave trauma care, and the victim later died. Police treated the case as a homicide the same day and handed it to the department’s Crimes Against Persons Unit. (fremontpolice.gov) ### Who was arrested? Police named the two suspects as Kaleb Soto, 19, and Ricardo Duran, 42. Fremont investigators said both men were later booked on warrants for Penal Code 187 homicide. A separate court-record account tied the case to the killing of Fernando Campos-Diaz, though Fremont’s own press release did not name the victim. (fremontpolice.gov) ### How were they found? Turns out this was not the kind of case where a dramatic manhunt ended with a raid. Hayward officers responded to a trespassing call on April 4, 2026, and recognized Soto and Duran as people of interest in the Fremont homicide investigation. Fremont detectives then coordinated with Hayward police, took custody of both men, and booked them on the homicide warrants. That means the arrest itself actually happened more than a month ago — the public update came on May 7. (fremontpolice.gov) ### Why did the update come later? That lag is pretty normal in homicide cases. Police often wait to say more until warrants are served, interviews are done, and prosecutors have a cleaner file to work with. In this case, Fremont first announced the homicide on February 3, then gave the arrest update on May 7. So the public story went from “active investigation” to named suspects over roughly three months. (fremontpolice.gov) ### What do we know about the shooting itself? The official version is still narrow — location, time, death, and now the arrests. But court-record reporting added more texture, saying the shooting followed a confrontation involving people alleged to have gang ties, with Campos-Diaz being chased and shot near a 7-Eleven in the area. That account is useful context, but it is still different from a full courtroom-tested narrative. (fremontpolice.gov) ### Why does “second homicide” matter? Because it tells you how Fremont police are framing the stakes. The department highlighted from the start that this was the city’s second homicide of 2026. That does not, by itself, prove a broader crime trend. But it does show why the case drew attention locally — homicides are still rare enough in Fremont that each one becomes a major public-safety event. (patch.com) ### What happens next? The arrests do not end the story. The next real test is the court process — charging decisions, evidence fights, and whether prosecutors can turn the investigation into a conviction. For now, the biggest change is that the case is no longer a killing with unknown suspects. It is a homicide prosecution taking shape. (fremontpolice.gov) ### Bottom line Basically, Fremont police solved a February homicide because Hayward officers happened to spot two wanted men during a trespassing call. That kind of break can look random from the outside. But it is often how stalled violent-crime cases finally move. (fremontpolice.gov)