Thread: 3rd man arrested in freeway shooting death of boy

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3rd man arrested in freeway shooting death of boy

Jan 29, 2007 05:39 AM PST

U.S. Marshals have arrested a third man in connection with the shooting death of a 12-year-old boy that may have stemmed from an illegal-immigrant smuggling deal gone sour.


Saul Juarez, 19, was arrested at a relative's apartment in Tucson and was taken to the Pima County jail Sunday.

Juarez will be extradited to San Bernardino County on charges related to the homicide.


U.S. Marshals believe that Juarez had been living in Tucson since Jan. 13.

California authorities already have arrested two men in connection with the Dec. 11 shooting death of 12-year-old Gabriel Garcia of Hesperia, Calif.

Pedro Escobedo, 43, turned himself in three days after the shooting. He has pleaded not guilty to felony murder charges.

Authorities arrested another man, 23-year-old Luis Chavira, in the slaying on Jan. 12.

Garcia died at a hospital days after he was shot in the head and leg while he was in a car on Interstate 215.

Authorities originally thought the shooting was an act of road rage, but in court documents, a man indicated it stemmed from an illegal-immigrant smuggling deal gone bad.


Gregorio Hernandez, 32, said he was driving the car in which the boy was riding along with two illegal immigrants and a friend, who planned to hand over the immigrants to family members in exchange for $40 each.

A dispute arose when they stopped in a parking lot to make the transfer with people in a second car, leading to a 10-mile chase during which shots were fired, Hernandez said.

Escobedo is believed to have been the driver of the Explorer.

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Information from: Arizona Daily Star, http://www.azstarnet.com

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.








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Shooting suspect headed to court

Man charged in killing of boy on 15 Freeway faces extradition
By Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 01/30/2007 12:24:54 AM PST

Extradition proceedings begin today in Arizona for a man tied to the fatal shooting of a 12-year-old Hesperia boy on the 15 Freeway in Devore.

Saul Juarez, 19, will appear before a superior court judge in Pima County, Ariz., for his extradition hearing. He was arrested Sunday at a relative's home in Tucson, Ariz., by U.S. Marshals who were responding to a tip.

San Bernardino County prosecutors on Friday issued a warrant for Juarez's arrest after charging him with murder in connection with the Dec. 11 shooting of 12-year-old Gabriel Garcia. The shooting happened on the southbound 15 Freeway near its junction with the 215 Freeway.

A botched handoff of two Mexican immigrants allegedly smuggled into the country illegally is believed to have led to the shooting, authorities said.

Gabriel was in a black Nissan Maxima chased from a McDonald's restaurant off Highway 138 in the Cajon Pass to Norco. Gabriel was shot in the head and leg during the chase. The boy was abandoned in the car after it skidded to a stop in an Applebee's restaurant parking lot on Limonite Avenue in Eastvale, according to sheriff's reports filed in San Bernardino Superior Court.

Juarez awaits arraignment in San Bernardino County and is currently being held at the Pima County Jail in Arizona.

He is one of three suspects identified so far in the deadly freeway shooting. Also charged with murder are San Bernardino residents Pedro Escobedo, 43, and Luis Chavira, 23.

Sheriff's investigators believe it was either Chavira or Juarez who fired the deadly gunshots that struck Gabriel in the back of the head and leg, sheriff's spokeswoman Jodi Miller said.

Gabriel died three days after the shooting when he was removed from life support at Riverside Community Hospital, authorities said.

Fingerprints lifted from the white Ford Explorer that Escobedo was driving came back as a match for Chavira and Juarez, according to sheriff's reports filed in San Bernardino Superior Court in support of Juarez's arrest.

Hundreds of pages of sheriff's reports released publicly since the shooting provide a glimpse into the apparent motive behind the shooting.

During a polygraph examination, the driver of the Nissan Maxima at the time of the shooting, 32-year-old Gregario Zuniga-Hernandez, said he had been in the country only 15 days before the shooting, and arrived in the states illegally from Mexico after paying someone $1,500 to guide him across the border. He then made his way over the hills north of Tijuana.

On the day of the shooting, he said his friend, Juan Gomez, picked him up in his Nissan and said he had to drop off two men, who were sitting in the back seat. Gabriel was sitting in the front seat.

In the reports, Zuniga-Hernandez claimed Gomez told him that Gomez was being paid $40 for each person he delivered to family members, and explained that he was a middle man delivering illegal immigrants for a "coyote," a person who smuggles Mexican nationals across the border into the U.S. for a fee.

But things went wrong when Gomez met with several men in a white Ford Explorer in the McDonald's parking lot off Cleghorn Road in the Cajon Pass.

As Gomez talked to Escobedo, tensions flared, and four men got out of the Explorer and approached the Nissan. Zuniga-Hernandez said Gomez told him to leave, and so he sped out of the parking lot and onto the freeway. Gomez ran into the hills with two men chasing him, according to sheriff's reports.

When asked what went wrong, Zuniga-Hernandez told detectives he believed the family of the two men being smuggled into the country did not want to pay the coyote's fees at the time of delivery.

As the chase winded its way through the Cajon Pass and into Fontana, at least six gunshots were fired from the Explorer at the Nissan. Gabriel slumped in the front passenger seat after being shot.

The chase ended in Eastvale, near Norco, when Zuniga-Hernandez exited at Limonite Avenue and skidded to a halt in an Applebee's restaurant parking lot. The Ford Explorer pulled up next to it, records show.

Witnesses reported seeing the driver get out of the Nissan and run away. Two other men got out of the car and jumped into the Explorer before it sped off.

Gabriel was left alone in the car. A man and woman came to his aid before paramedics arrived.

Supervising Deputy District Attorney Dwight Moore has said the only evidence linking the shooting to an alleged illegal immigrant smuggling racket are the statements made by Zuniga-Hernandez.

3 must stand trial in 12-year-old's SoCal freeway murder
The Associated Press
Aug 11, 2007
SAN BERNARDINO

Three men were ordered to stand trial for murder in connection with the freeway shooting death of a 12-year-old boy that stemmed from a soured smuggling deal.

Gabriel Garcia of Hesperia was shot in the back of the head on Dec. 11 during a chase on Interstate 215 but the driver kept going for about 30 minutes after the shooting. The boy died a few days later at a hospital.

Prosecutors said a botched deal involving illegal immigrants apparently led smugglers to chase a car containing the boy and two Mexican immigrants.

Gunshots fired from the pursuing car hit the boy in the head and leg. The chase ended in Mira Loma when the car blew a tire and spun out of control. Prosecutors said the two illegal immigrants climbed over the dying boy and jumped into the pursuing car, which drove away.

Diners at a nearby restaurant called for an ambulance.

Murder charges were filed against Luis Chavira, 23; Saul Juarez, 19; and Pedro Escobedo, 43.

Prosecutors contend Chavira and Juarez were the shooters and Escobedo was driving the pursuing car.

Juarez and Chavira could be sentenced to 50 years to life in prison if convicted. Escobedo would face 26 years to life.

http://www.pe.com/ap_news/California/CA ... 310C.shtml