San Bernardino County sheriff’s investigators on Friday, Feb. 17, publicly identified a relative who lived with the victims in a Montclair-area home as the suspect in the fatal shootings of three people there last month, and a relative said the suspect had a mental illness that caused him to fear his family.
Pete Renteria, 29, is a fugitive, the Sheriff’s Department said.
At about 9 p.m. on Jan. 30, someone entered a home in the 4800 block of Ramona Place, in unincorporated county territory, and discovered the bodies of Sonia Ramirez, 68, husband George Ramirez, 66, and their son David Ramirez, 43. A gun was found in a neighbor’s yard.
Renteria is the grandson of the Ramirezes and the nephew of David Ramirez, said Gloria Huerta, a sheriff’s spokeswoman.
Investigators are not releasing the motive for the crime. But a relative of Pete Renteria said the suspect, who he believed had a good relationship with those in the home, acted differently when he was not taking medication.
“He was feeling the family was trying to hurt him,” said the relative, who asked that his name not be published. He said he feared for his safety because he was afraid of any others who might be involved in the slayings.
The relative said as he was cleaning the house, he found Renteria’s medication bottles full, the pills apparently unused. Renteria had also been drinking alcohol that day, the relative said.
The relative said investigators asked about Renteria’s whereabouts the day the bodies were discovered. He said Friday he didn’t know Renteria’s location and added that Renteria didn’t have connections to anybody out of the state or country.
“He just disappeared,” the relative said.
The Sheriff’s Department declined to release a photograph of Renteria or a physical description. Investigators also declined to describe any previous contacts with Renteria.
The relative said Renteria had recently served five to seven years in prison after a gun-related conviction.
A man with the same name and age as Renteria has firearms and drug convictions, according to San Bernardino County Superior Court records.
Pete Anthony Renteria was sentenced to 1 year and four months in jail in July 2012 after he pleaded no contest to discharging a firearm with gross negligence.
One year later, in December 2013, Renteria was charged with shooting at an inhabited dwelling. He pleaded guilty and in January 2014 he was sentenced to 3 years in state prison. He was also ordered to serve another 1 year and 4 months in prison for violating probation, a sentence that ran concurrently.
In 2016, the court ordered Renteria to enroll in a domestic violence violators program.
In 2020, Renteria pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm and was sentenced to 1 year and 4 months in state prison. And in March 2022, he was sentenced to 10 days in jail for being under the influence of a controlled substance.
Another relative of the deceased established a GoFundMe page to assist with expenses.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct the name of victim David Ramirez.
