Second arrest made in quadruple murder case

Published 2:00 pm Wednesday, February 5, 2025

A second man has been arrested in connection with August 2024 shootings that left four people dead at Pleasant Grove Park.

Andres Jared Guzman, 18, of 11 E. Creekview Drive S.W. in Rome, was charged Tuesday by the Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office with murder (non-family, gun).

In a press release Wednesday, the sheriff’s office said Guzman was arrested in connection with the shootings.

The Rome News Tribune reported that at around 7 p.m. Tuesday the Floyd County SWAT team arrived at Guzman’s house accompanied by other law enforcement officers. They used a loudspeaker to tell him they had warrants for his arrest and for him to come out of the house.

The sheriff’s office said its investigators along with agents from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation participated in the arrest. Guzman is in the Whitfield County jail without bond.

In November, a Whitfield County grand jury indicted Juan “Diego” Cruz-Duque of Rome for 12 counts of felony murder, armed robbery, criminal attempt to commit armed robbery, possession of a schedule 1 controlled substance with the intent to distribute and two counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. He faces three counts of felony murder, which is causing the death of someone while committing a felony, for each death.

The two are charged for the deaths of David Antonio Delgadillo, 21, of Dalton; Joshua Pedro Pelico-Pelico, 19, of Dalton; Daniel Segura-Cruz, 17, of Rome; and Robert Alexis Valencia, 18, of Rome.

In a press conference the day after the shootings, then-Whitfield County sheriff Scott Chitwood said deputies were sent to Pleasant Grove Park, which is off Cleveland Highway at 1800 Pleasant Grove Drive north of Dalton, at about 11:14 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 24, after reports of shots fired and found the four bodies.

The indictments said Cruz-Duque drove from Floyd County to Whitfield County with Sequra-Cruz and Valencia for a “drug transaction” with Pelico-Pelico and Delgadillo. They said Cruz-Duque fired a firearm at Pelico-Pelico and Delgadillo to “obtain” vape pens and money.

Investigators knew multiple weapons were involved because there were multiple types of shell casings at the scene.