UPDATED: Charges Expected Against Mecca Felon for Allegedly Shooting Occupied Vehicle

INDIO (CNS) – A 35-year-old convicted felon suspected of shooting at an occupied vehicle in Mecca pleaded not guilty to felony charges Friday. Joseph Marco Federico Jr. of Mecca was charged with two felony counts of assault with a semi-automatic firearm and one felony count each of being a convicted felon and narcotic addict in possession of a firearm and being in possession of ammunition, according to court records. He pleaded not guilty to all charges Friday afternoon at the Larson Justice Center in Indio. Deputies responded to a report of an attempted murder near Seventh Street and Lincoln Street on March 5, according to Sgt. David Aldrich of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department. A male suspect shot at a vehicle, occupied by an unidentified 47-year-old Mecca resident, then pointed the firearm at a witness as he was running away from the scene. Aldrich said no one was injured in the shooting. A special investigations unit from the sheriff’s Thermal station took over the investigation and subsequently identified Federico as the suspect, Aldrich said. He was found in the 91000 block of Seventh Street, allegedly with a loaded firearm. Federico was booked into the Southwest Detention Center in Murrieta, where he remains held on $1 million bail. Anyone with information about the shooting was asked to call Investigator Glasper with the Thermal sheriff’s station at 760-863-8950 or Valley Crime Stoppers anonymously at 760-341-7867. Copyright 2023, City News Service, Inc.