Little Temple, an East Hollywood/Silverlake hipster club with a reputation for an eclectic crowd became the site of a shocking homicide last month.

Now cops say they have their man, 31-year-old Geovanni Cifuentes, who they alleged today is the gunman in the May 28 shooting death of David Banuelos at the venue at 4519 Santa Monica Boulevard. They say the got Cifuentes recently after a traffic pursuit.

The May attack happened at 1:20 a.m. after …

… a fight broke out inside the venue and a few men were told to leave, police said. Another victim was shot in the leg and turned out to be okay.

Banuelos, 28, was from Compton and was pronounced dead at the scene. The shooter was described as having a “W” tattooed on the back of his head.

Cifuentes was arrested after a short car chase in the San Fernando Valley yesterday, according to an LAPD statement. Detectives had been shadowing him and decided to move in for an arrest when he allegedly took off.

They finally got him to stop and collared him at Colfax Avenue and Riverside Drive in Studio City, police said.


View Larger Map

The LAPD:

Detectives conducted an extensive investigation and followed several leads that ultimately lead to the identity of Cifuentes as the suspect. While conducting a surveillance of Cifuentes' work location, they saw Cifuentes enter a silver Cadillac and drive away. Uniformed patrol officers assigned to Foothill Division attempted to initiate a traffic stop, but Cifuentes failed to yield and a short pursuit ensued. Cifuentes was ultimately stopped and taken into custody without incident at Colfax Avenue and Riverside Drive where the pursuit ended.

Cifuentes was booked on suspicion of murder and held in lieu of $1 million bail.

While cops say they're confident he's “he man responsible for killing Banuelos,” they still want witnesses to come forward.

Anyone with info was asked to call detectives at 213-972-1258.

-With background from City News Service. Got news? Email us. Follow us on Twitter, too: @dennisjromero.

Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.