A man was shot in the leg during a gang-related argument on Poway Road in mid-August, and it took San Diego County sheriff's deputies nearly three weeks to get both suspects off the street. Angel Cedillo-Martinez, 19, and a 17-year-old boy whose name authorities are withholding because he is a minor, are now each under arrest on suspicion of attempted murder in connection with the shooting.
Deputies responded shortly before 10 p.m. on August 14. Investigators determined that three men had been involved in an argument connected to a criminal street gang when one of them fired three shots from a handgun, striking a victim in the leg.
Both suspects had fled the area by the time deputies responded, and the case sat open for days before deputies caught a break. On August 19, deputies located Cedillo-Martinez in the 12400 block of Stowe Drive, an industrial stretch of Poway, and took him into custody. The second suspect, the 17-year-old, wasn't found until September 3, when he was arrested in the 15500 block of Poway Road, roughly three weeks after the shooting. The investigation led to the arrests.
Why the Teen Suspect's Case Could Land in Adult Court
Why the Teen Suspect's Case Could Land in Adult Court The second suspect is 17. The supplied reports do not specify whether his case will proceed in juvenile or adult court.
Neither suspect has been convicted of anything, and the attempted murder allegations remain pending charges rather than proven facts. The supplied reports do not specify whether a gang enhancement will be pursued, what sentence could result from a conviction, whether the handgun was recovered, or which specific gang was involved.
A Rare Violent Crime in One of the County's Safest Cities
The shooting is jarring in part because of where it happened. Poway was ranked the seventh safest city in California and the top safest city in San Diego County in the 2026 ranking from SafeWise, which used FBI crime data to calculate a violent crime rate of just 1.4 incidents per 1,000 residents, down from 1.6 the year before. The shooting occurred in a community with numbers like that.
The 13300 block of Poway Road includes retail properties like the Poway Valley Center, which sold for $11.6 million in April 2025. City plans envision transforming that stretch into a walkable, mixed-use district, according to the Times of San Diego.
Poway contracts with the San Diego County Sheriff's Department for public safety rather than running its own police force. The local Poway Station, on Bowron Road, is part of that arrangement. That contract arrangement provides the city's public safety services.
This isn't the first time gun violence has touched a Poway resident in recent years. In Hoodline's prior reporting, 25-year-old Poway resident Andres Dominguez was fatally shot during a verbal dispute in San Diego's Oak Park neighborhood in March 2024 before crashing his car while trying to flee; three suspects were later charged with murder and attempted robbery in that case. The August shooting on Poway Road is also mentioned here.
