The Sheriff’s Office has made a second arrest in the alleged murder of Hoopa resident Julius “Jules” Tripp, who was knifed and then shot to death on July 20 along state Highway 96.

Daniel Armendariz, 19, of Klamath was booked into Humboldt County Correctional Facility on a charge of murder at 2:35 a.m. Wednesday, according to jail records. Deputy District Attorney Trent Timm, who is prosecuting co-defendant Bronson Moon Lewis Jr., said charges will likely be filed Friday.

A jail spokesman said Armendariz is being held without bail.

During Lewis’s preliminary hearing, which ended Wednesday with Lewis ordered to stand trial, witnesses said “Daniel” was at Lewis’s side when Lewis allegedly attacked the 42-year-old Tripp with a knife, then later shot the injured man with an AR-15 rifle.

The two men were among five teens who were in Lewis’s truck, headed from Hoopa to Weitchpec, when they came upon Tripp’s pickup truck and camper in a turnout. According to witnesses, driver Daniel Mabry decided to pull off the road and bump into the truck. Tripp had been sleeping inside.

During the confrontation that ensued, Lewis and Armendariz allegedly chased Tripp on foot down the road. He was attacked with a large knife after he jumped down a bank, with Lewis later telling the others “I chopped off his hand.”

According to witness K-lynn Doud, both Lewis and Armendariz said Tripp had to be finished off. The teens drove back to Hoopa, got an AR-15 rifle and returned to the place where Tripp lay over the bank, audibly panting for breath. Lewis and Armendariz went down the bank and the others heard one or two shots.

After Tripp was shot, Mabry pushed his truck and camper over another bank nearby. Mabry, testifying during Lewis’s preliminary hearing, acknowledged he had done that and said “I don’t know what was in my head.”

The wrecked truck was found four days later, but Tripp’s scattered remains weren’t discovered untll Aug. 18, after Mabry contacted authorities. Both K-lynn Doud and her cousin Farah Dowd also cooperated with law enforcement.

###

PREVIOUSLY: