Thread: Murder in Vallejo for wearing red

http://www.timesheraldonline.com/ci_6657929

Mistaken for gang member, youth died over a red cap
By MATTHIAS GAFNI/Times-Herald staff writer
Vallejo Times Herald
Article Launched:08/18/2007 07:11:37 AM PDT

Jose Romo was heading downtown to get his hair cut Sunday afternoon with friends.
The city's 11th homicide victim of 2007 would never make the appointment.

His car, with the 19-year-old Vallejoan riding shotgun, hit the intersection of Tennessee and Marin streets at the wrong time. One of his fellow passengers made the fatal mistake of wearing a red baseball hat in a neighborhood where Norte os and Sure os are fighting over turf, police said.

Unfortunately, as Romo's car drove through the intersection, a car with Sure o gang members, wearing their customary blue clothing, also passed through, Detective Mat Mustard said Friday. After a brief "hostile exchange," police said, the gang members followed Romo and his friends, who are not gang-affiliated and have no criminal records, to Carolina and Marin streets.

Shots rang out.

A gang member fired on Romo's vehicle numerous times with an undisclosed firearm, striking the young man in the head. That same gang member, an illegal alien from Mexico, had been deported last year after being arrested for a felony involving a hand gun.

After the shooting, Romo's friends frantically drove off, pulling over at an Italian restaurant near the Vallejo police station because they spotted an ambulance in the parking lot. Romo later died at John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek.

"These people have never been contacted by the police. They have no history of gang association. They were all working class people," Mustard said of Romo and his friends. "It's just a senseless act of violence."

Police quickly arrested the suspected driver of the Sure o car, Jenny Melicia Dizon, 24, of Vallejo. She's been charged with one count of murder and three counts of attempted murder involving the other passengers in Romo's car. Her arraignment Wednesday was postponed and she is scheduled back in Solano County Superior Court on Monday.

Police are searching for the alleged shooter, Israel Rivera Balderas, 20, of Vallejo, who had a no-bail bench warrant filed Tuesday. He is charged with the same counts, along with gun enhancements. Both Dizon and Balderas' charges include gang enhancements.

Police believe there were more people in Dizon's car and are investigating, Mustard said.

"Some people make poor decisions, and (Balderas) may have believed that these people were gang members and acted on what his belief was," Mustard said. "Unfortunately, for the victim and victim's family, he was misidentified."

Balderas has a checkered past. In June 2005, he plead no contest to one count of felony second-degree robbery and received probation, with a gang stipulation, according to court records. In January 2006, his probation was revoked after he was charged as being a felon in possession of a firearm and carrying a concealed weapon, records show. Instead of serving a two-year prison sentence, he was deported to Mexico, Mustard said.

Police aren't sure where Balderas is now. "Whether he will or won't go back to Mexico, we don't know," Mustard said.

Sunday's shooting is the latest evidence of an increase in Vallejo gang activity, particularly among Hispanics, Mustard said. "For a portion of time we didn't have enough gang members to track. There's no doubt we have enough now," the detective said.

Six blocks away from Romo's shooting, at Sutter and Virginia streets, is a gang graffiti tag with the phrases "BBH," "X3" and "P.WEE" in blue spray paint, the Sure o color.

"BBH" stands for Brown Brother Hood, a Sure o-based Vallejo gang, Mustard said. "X3" is a version of the number "13," which is associated with that gang. "P.WEE" most likely refers to the suspected shooter Balderas, who goes by the nickname "Pee Wee," Mustard said.

Red spray paint from Norte os competes for space along the concrete wall.

"They are fighting over turf and marking over turf," Mustard said.

It's not the first Sure o-Norte o gang murder in Vallejo.

In December 2006, Ivan Valdez, a 20-year-old Sure o gang member, was found gunned down in an abandoned lot in the 300 block of Illinois Street, Mustard said. That homicide is unsolved.

In April 2005, Eric Soto, a Sure o gang member, was shot and killed on the 300 block of El Dorado Street, police said. Frank Capenhurst, 19, and Eric Gentry, 18, both Vallejo Norte o gang members, are charged with the homicide and scheduled to go to trial in September, police said.

All three homicides occurred in a roughly 10-block stretch along Sonoma Boulevard in downtown Vallejo.

Earlier this year, a group of juvenile Sure o gang members performed take-over robberies at various businesses, including a Denny's restaurant, Mustard said.


* * * *
Homicide Suspect

Police are searching for Israel Rivera Balderas, 20, who allegedly shot and killed Jose Romo on Sunday.

Balderas, known as "Pee Wee," has several distinguishing tattoos. He has one dot next to his left eye and three dots next to his right eye, standing for the number "13," which has ties to the Sure o gang. He also has a tattoo on the right side of his neck reading: "1Sure o3."

The reputed Sure o gang member is 5-foot-6 and about 150 pounds. He has short hair and a mustache.

Anyone with information on Balderas' whereabouts or the homicide can contact Vallejo Detective Mat Mustard at 648-4514.

Just like animals, they mark their terrority.

Americans,... bear your arms.

You have a life to protect... YOUR OWN!

Government won't protect you. There the ones allowing this to happen & go on!

It's only getting worse, day by day!

"Superman, where are you?"

A gang member fired on Romo's vehicle numerous times with an undisclosed firearm, striking the young man in the head. That same gang member, an illegal alien from Mexico, had been deported last year after being arrested for a felony involving a hand gun.

They have to go! Every last one of them!

They have to go! Every last one of them!

ABSOLUTAMENTE!!

The sad part is that in the SF Bay area you'll have hundreds maybe thousands protesting against illegal alien gang members arrests and deportation.

Recently local law enforcement (Sonoma Sheriffs Department) partnered up with ICE for street gang enforcement operations, basically ICE and the Gang squad patroled together and arresting any illegal alien gang members encountered. Well wouldn't you know it the wackos and gang rights (ACLU, LULUC)groups....heard about it and started screaming its unfair, racist, etc...for some reason people listen to this dribble here.

Anything that makes this Nation and society weaker will be supported by many in the bay area.