By The Porterville Recorder

Police today arrested a Porterville man suspected in the July 12 slaying of Felix Platas.

Officers at 8 a.m. determined Joseph Sierra, 24, was at a residence in the 200 block of East Putnam Avenue in Porterville, Lt. Silver Rodriguez of the Porterville Police Department said in a written release. Sierra was wanted on a Tulare County Superior Court “no bail” arrest warrant charging him with felony homicide. Officers were able to remove a number of people from the home before Sierra refused to exit, Rodriguez said. Officers then established a perimeter around the house and evacuated residents from adjacent homes.

The department’s SWAT team and crisis negotiators were at the scene and at 11:11 a.m. Sierra surrendered peacefully and exited the home with no resistance and was transported to the Tulare County Sheriff’s Department Porterville substation, Rodriguez said.

Platas, 33, of Porterville, was found dead July 12 at 12:03 a.m. in the driver’s seat of his vehicle on Road 223 west of Westwood Avenue in Porterville. He had been a shot.

For more on today’s incident, see Friday’s print edition of The Recorder.

Contact The Recorder newsroom at 784-5000, Ext. 1044.