Arrests in Fremont February Homicide

A Fremont homicide case that had gone quiet for months suddenly moved because of something much smaller — a trespassing call in Hayward. That call, on April 4, put Hayward officers in contact with two men Fremont detectives already cared about. Fremont police said this week that those men, Kaleb Soto, 19, and Ricardo Duran, 42, were then taken into custody and booked on homicide warrants in the February 3 shooting near Central Avenue and Joseph Street. ### What happened in February? The shooting happened at about 4:19 p.m. on February 3, 2026, in the area of Central Avenue and Joseph Street. Fremont officers got multiple 911 calls, arrived within minutes, found one victim on the ground, and gave trauma care. The victim later died. Fremont police said at the time that the case was active and that it marked the city’s second homicide of 2026. (fremontpolice.gov) ### Who was arrested? Fremont police named the suspects as Soto and Duran. The department said Hayward officers recognized both men during the April 4 trespassing detention as people of interest in the Fremont homicide investigation. Fremont investigators then coordinated with Hayward, took custody of both men, and booked them on warrants for Penal Code 187 — homicide. (fremontpolice.gov) ### Why did this break open through Hayward? Basically, the arrest did not come from a dramatic manhunt update. It came from ordinary police contact in another city. That matters because it suggests Fremont detectives had already identified the pair before April 4, but needed the right moment to grab them. The public update on May 7 was less a fresh lead than the point where investigators were ready to say the arrests had happened. (fremontpolice.gov) ### Do we know who was killed? Fremont’s own press releases did not name the victim. But court-record reporting cited by Patch identified the man killed as Fernando Campos-Diaz. That same reporting said the shooting happened near a 7-Eleven in the Central Avenue and Joseph Street area. ### Was this random? (fremontpolice.gov) It does not look random. Patch, citing court records first reported by the East Bay Times, said Soto and Duran were tied to the Decoto gang, a Norteño subset based in Union City, and that the shooting followed a confrontation with members of a rival set. The reported sequence is blunt — a fight started, one side began losing, and then a gun was brought in. Fremont police have not laid out that narrative in their own release, but the court-record account points to a gang-linked conflict, not a chance encounter. (patch.com) ### Why does the age detail matter? One detail shifted in public reporting. Patch’s April story described Soto as 18. Fremont police identified him in the May arrest update as 19. That is not really a contradiction — it likely reflects that he had a birthday between the February shooting and the May announcement. But it does matter because it helps line up the timeline and confirms these are the same two suspects across the different reports. (patch.com) ### What happens next? An arrest on a homicide warrant is not the end of the case. The next steps are the court process, formal charging decisions, and whatever evidence prosecutors think they can prove in open court. Fremont police are still asking witnesses and tipsters to come forward, which usually means investigators want to keep building the record even after arrests are made. (patch.com) ### So what’s the bottom line? The big change is simple — this is no longer an unsolved February killing with unnamed suspects. Fremont now says two men are in custody, and outside court-record reporting gives the case a sharper shape: a daytime shooting, a named victim, and a possible gang motive. The catch is that the cleanest official version is still narrow, so the fuller story will probably come out in court. (fremontpolice.gov)