On May 19, 2019, Merced Police Officers were dispatched to the 1500 Block of Portola Way to investigate an incident of a gun being fired in the area. When officers arrived on Portola Way, they located a victim who had been shot.

After the shooting, the suspects fled in an unknown vehicle.

Through their investigation, MPD detectives were able to identify the suspect vehicle as a dark-colored Nissan.

Detectives located the vehicle parked at the home of Dale Estevan Dalton.

After locating the Nissan, detectives were able to identify Dalton as the suspect in the shooting.

On May 19th, 2019, at approximately 9:33 P.M., the Merced Police SWAT team served a search warrant at Dalton’s home in the 2400 block of East Gerard Avenue.

Dalton was not located during the service of the search warrant. Detectives did seize the Nissan which had been used in the shooting.

On May 20th, 2019, Merced Police detectives were able to take Dalton into custody. Dalton was interviewed and later booked into the Merced County Jail for attempt murder.

Merced Police are asking anyone with any information regarding this crime to contact Detective Kalvin Haygood at (209) 385-6998.

The public can send information via anonymous text messages to police department by dialing “TIP411” (847411) and including the word “Comvip” as the “keyword” in the text message