Police said Rudolfo Hinojosa-Soto was feuding with the victim over a bad drug transaction.
Syracuse police stand on the 300 block of Putman Street Oct. 10, where Curtis Parrish was shot to death.Syracuse, NY -- A Putnam Street man has been charged in the Oct. 10 shooting death of Curtis Parrish in an apparent drug deal gone bad, Syracuse police announced this morning.
Rudolfo Hinojosa-Soto, 22, of 303 Putnam St., was arraigned this morning on second-degree murder and second-degree criminal possession of a weapon charges, and is being held at the Justice Center jail.
Hinojosa-Soto brought in for questioning Saturday and arrested later, Deputy Police Chief Joe Cecile said at a news conference announcing the arrest.
The deputy chief would not discuss details of the arrest, except to say that Hinojosa-Soto had several addresses and was arrested at one of those addresses. He put up no resistance when police located him.
“The victim and the suspect were well-known to each other,” Cecile said. “They had a bad drug transaction a year ago, which had caused them to be feuding with each other for almost a year.”
Cecile said Hinojosa-Soto and Parrish, were involved in another drug deal the day of the shooting.
“They were brought together once again on the day of the homicide earlier that day for another drug transaction that also went sour,” Cecile said. “Later in the evening, the suspect approached the victim in the 300 block of Putnam Ave. and shot and killed him.”
The deputy chief would not identify the drugs involved in any of the transactions or who was buying from whom.
Parrish, 27, of Leavenworth Avenue, was shot multiple times, including at least once in the head, after going to Putnam Street to visit a friend. He was walking shortly before 7 p.m. to a store at the corner of Putnam and Geddes streets on the city’s Near West Side to buy cigarettes when he was shot, family members said after the shooting.
Cecile said police have not found a weapon, but officers recovered several .380 shell casings at the scene.
He said both Hinojosa-Soto and Parrish have arrest records but didn’t know whether either man had ever been convicted of a crime.
Reach John Stith at jstith@syracuse.com or at 251-5718.