The Monterey County District Attorney's Office announced on Monday, November 9, that it will not file criminal charges at this time against Donald Breeden, the 18-year-old Greenfield resident arrested last week in connection with the fatal shooting at a party on Jetty Road in Moss Landing, because the evidence is insufficient to bring a case. District Attorney Jeannine M. Pacioni said her office received and reviewed a filing referral against Breeden and concluded there is insufficient evidence to file charges at this time.
Source: Monterey County District Attorney's Office statement, Nov 9, 2026
The decision is a major new development in a case this newsroom has followed since the shooting itself. On November 5, Monterey County Sheriff's detectives, assisted by the Sheriff's SWAT team, the Monterey Peninsula Special Response Unit and California State Parks, executed two search warrants in Greenfield and King City and arrested Breeden on two counts of murder with criminal street gang enhancements, the Sheriff's Office said at the time. He was booked into the Monterey County Jail with bail set at $2,035,000. Those arrest allegations were never tested in a filed criminal case, and Monday's announcement means no charges from that arrest are being filed now.
Source: Monterey County Sheriff's Office, search warrants and arrest statement
What happened on Jetty Road on November 2
The shooting happened on Monday, November 2, 2026, at approximately 1:48 a.m., during a party on Jetty Road in Moss Landing, the DA's Office said. Two juveniles were killed and a third person, a young adult, was seriously injured. In line with this newsroom's minor-safety rule, the two teenagers who died — ages 15 and 13, both from Salinas — are not named in this report.
Dozens of people attended the party, most or all of them juveniles and young adults, according to the DA's Office. Among those present were Norteño gang members and associates connected with both a group from Salinas and a group from Greenfield, prosecutors said. The two teenagers who were killed were with the Salinas group, and the injured young adult was with the Greenfield group, which also included Breeden, the DA's Office said.
An argument, conflicting accounts — and no clear first shot
A verbal argument erupted between the groups over behaviour alleged against the Salinas group, including theft, vandalism and threats of violence at the party, the DA's Office said. Witness statements and physical evidence corroborated some of those allegations: one witness identified a person from the Salinas group as one of the people stealing necklaces from females, and law enforcement later found multiple gold necklaces in his backpack, according to prosecutors. These remain allegations described by the DA's Office, not findings by a court.
Multiple witnesses said the argument escalated as the two sides yelled gang insults at one another. There was less agreement about weapons: witnesses claimed individuals on both sides held their waistbands as if they had guns, or actually showed guns. When the argument turned to violence, witnesses assigned different levels of blame to each side, prosecutors said.
Crucially, the evidence about who shot first points in different directions. Some of those present said the Salinas group shot first, while others said the Greenfield group shot first. It was dark, and many of those present were underage, intoxicated, or involved in some respect, the DA's Office said. The physical evidence is no clearer at this stage: law enforcement collected 21 shell casings fired from two or more guns, forensic analysis is pending, and no guns were recovered. The two Salinas juveniles were shot seven and five times and killed, and the young adult from the Greenfield group was shot twice and survived, prosecutors said.
Why the self-defence burden decided the filing decision
Under California law, the prosecution has the burden to disprove self-defence beyond a reasonable doubt. The DA's Office stressed that self-defence is not only a trial defence available to an accused person — the People bear the burden of proving its absence in order to file charges in the first place. At this time, Pacioni's office concluded, there is insufficient evidence to prove that Donald Breeden did not fire in self-defence.
Source: Monterey County Now, Nov 9, 2026
The DA did not say Breeden has been cleared for all time. The wording — insufficient evidence 'at this time' — leaves the case open: if the ongoing investigation or the pending forensic analysis produces stronger evidence, prosecutors could revisit a filing decision. No court date was announced, because no charges were filed.
What happens next
The investigation is ongoing, the DA's Office and the Sheriff's Office said. Anyone with information about the Jetty Road shooting is encouraged to contact Monterey County Sheriff's Office Detective Richard Geng at 831-759-7279. The DA's announcement did not state Breeden's custody status on Monday, and this report does not assume it.
For the families in Salinas who lost two teenagers, and for a young adult in the Greenfield group who survived two gunshot wounds, Monday's decision means there is still no filed criminal case a week after the shooting — not because the deaths are in dispute, but because, on the evidence gathered so far, prosecutors say they cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt who was the aggressor and who, if anyone, fired in self-defence.