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Police announced they have arrested a man suspected of gunning down a 46-year-old man and leaving him lying in a Central Long Beach roadway in September.

Detectives took 21-year-old Junior Alexander Munguia into custody on suspicion of murder Thursday near 17th Street and Henderson Avenue, according to authorities.

That’s about a mile away from where Fernando Rodriguez was found wounded in the lanes of Long Beach Boulevard near 14th Street on Sept. 17 around 1:30 a.m.

Rodriguez was originally taken to the hospital in stable condition but died two days later, police said.

It wasn’t clear how police connected Munguia to the killing or what may have motivated the slaying.

“At this time, there is no indication the murder was gang-related,” police said in a news release.

Detectives believe there was an altercation before the shooting but police declined to provide any more details.

One witness told the Long Beach Post he heard Rodriguez say “Leave me alone,” before the gunshots. Rodriguez was waiting for a friend to return a truck he’d loaned him when he was gunned down, according to Juan-Carlos Garcia, who said he didn’t see the actual shooting but he’d known Rodriguez for 20 years.

Rodriguez worked as a gardener, collected recyclables and was well-liked in the nearby auto shops where he sometimes helped out with work, according to Garcia

“He was friendly to everybody,” Garcia said.

Rodriguez had a wife and four kids, according to Garcia.

Munguia is being held in lieu of $2 million bail, according to police. Detectives are expected to present prosecutors with a murder case against him in the next few days.

Jeremiah Dobruck is executive editor of the Long Beach Post where he oversees all day-to-day newsroom operations. In his time working as a journalist in Long Beach, he’s won numerous awards for his investigative reporting and editing. Before coming to the Post in 2018, he wrote for publications including the Press-Telegram, Orange County Register and Los Angeles Times. Reach him at [email protected] or @jeremiahdobruck on Twitter.