SANTA CRUZ >> The Santa Cruz Police Department has arrested a third suspect in homicide of Joey Shuemaker, which occurred Aug. 23 on the San Lorenzo River Levee.

Cristobal Natividad, 41, of Santa Cruz has been identified and arrested as an accessory to homicide, according to Santa Cruz Police Spokeswoman Joyce Blaschke.

“Evidence has shown Cristobal Natividad was in close association with Nino Ruiz, 27, and Jenessa Kic, 31, immediately following the homicide,” Blaschke said.

In addition, Natividad has been linked to a handgun detectives believe was used in the homicide, Blaschke said. The gun, which was recovered from a residence in the 2500 block of Capitola Road in Santa Cruz, is registered to a relative of Natividad, Blaschke said.

On Aug. 23, police received reports about 8:20 a.m. of a shooting on the levee. Officers there found Shuemaker, 24, lying on the paved path, bleeding from a gunshot wound to his upper torso. Officers provided medical help until medics arrived, but Shuemaker died at the scene.

Numerous witnesses said Shuemaker and Ruiz were engaged in an argument when Ruiz shot Shuemaker in the chest, according to police. Ruiz then fled with the gun north on the levee toward Cathcart Street, Santa Cruz police spokeswoman Joyce Blaschke said.

Kic has been charged in the case because the District Attorney’s Office believes she engaged in discussions about “getting” the gun used in the crime, Prosecutor Celia Rowland said, and also appeared in a potentially incriminating photo on Facebook. In an apparent attempt to establish an alibi on Ruiz’s Facebook page, the pair posted a photo of themselves at Capitola Beach just hours after the crime. A caption beneath the photo read, “What a great night and morning at the at the Beach chillin.”

Nino Ruiz and Jenessa Kic each entered not guilty pleas at an arraignment Sept. 8.

Prosecutor Rowland revealed the prosecution was in the process of seeking additional people in the case after an Aug. 25 hearing outside a Santa Cruz Superior courtroom,

In the wake of the shooting, city officials have instituted a crackdown on crime along the levee. All areas around the path have been declared off-limits to all but city employees, city-approved volunteers or permitted events.

This was the second homicide in the city this year.

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY HOMICIDES 2016

Jan. 5: Howard Atkinson shot to death his sister-in-law, 22-year-old Cherish Villapia of Iowa, in his apartment on the 100 block of Chestnut Street in Santa Cruz, police said. Atkinson, a 35-year-old who recently moved to Santa Cruz from Texas, then fatally shot himself. Police believe it was a murder-suicide, yet no motive has been established.

Aug. 23: A man, who police described as a transient, is shot and killed on the west levee of the San Lorenzo River by an associate during an argument. Nino Ruiz and Jenessa Kic were arrested in connection with the shooting four hours later as they emerged from a house on the 300 Block of Leibrandt Avenue.