WATSONVILLE—A man wanted for an attempted murder in Watsonville on Jan. 7 was arrested Tuesday during a high-risk traffic stop.
Ian Coetzee, 21, was charged with attempted murder. He was booked into Santa Cruz County Jail in lieu of $375,000 bail, jail records showed.
According to Watsonville Police Department spokeswoman Michelle Pulido, Coetzee was identified early in the investigation after a 19-year-old victim was shot multiple times inside a warehouse on Hangar Way where Coetzee lived.
The victim suffered critical injuries, but is now recovering after being released from the hospital.
Detectives obtained an arrest warrant, but were unable to locate Coetzee.
On Tuesday night, detectives and WPD Special Investigations Unit Officers spotted Coetzee on Hangar Way. WPD officers, with the help of the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office Special Enforcement Team and California Highway Patrol, followed to the 2400 block of Freedom Boulevard where he was arrested.
Detectives found bullet holes in a refrigerator and the walls inside Coetzee’s residence, along with bullet slugs in the walls, Pulido said.
