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Case may involve migrants
Wes Woods II, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 12/21/2006 12:00:00 AM PST


The driver of a car in which a 12-year-old Hesperia boy was fatally shot on Interstate 15 is believed to have been involved in an illegal-immigration deal, court documents show.
Gregorio Zuniga Hernandez, 32, of El Cajon said he was driving on Dec. 11 with his friend, Juan Gomez, two illegal immigrants and the boy, Gabriel Garcia, at the time the boy was shot, according to documents filed in San Bernardino Superior Court.

Pedro Escobedo, 43, of San Bernardino, who pleaded not guilty to felony murder charges in the boy's death, is thought to be the driver of the vehicle from which someone opened fire on the car Gabriel was riding in.

San Bernardino County sheriff's spokeswoman Jodi Miller said no other suspects were in custody Wednesday.

Authorities originally described the shooting as a case of road rage.

According to court documents, Hernandez said Gomez was a middle man who was to deliver two illegal immigrants to their family members, and that they were at a restaurant off I-15 when Gomez received a call.

Gomez told Hernandez they were supposed to look for a Ford Explorer in the parking lot. When the driver of the Explorer got out, tensions rose and a freeway chase ensued. Gomez


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took off on foot while the boy, Hernandez and the other two men stayed in the car.
As Hernandez drove toward the Interstate 15-Interstate 215 interchange, the passenger in the Explorer's right front seat fired four or five gunshots at his vehicle, he said in court documents. About 20 minutes later, more shots were fired. Gabriel was hit in the head.

Hernandez drove south on I-15 for another 20 to 30 minutes. He was too afraid to call police, he said, because he is in the country illegally.

He left the freeway at Limonite Avenue in Mira Loma, spun to a stop at a shopping center and left the car.

He told investigators he thought police and an ambulance would arrive to help the boy.

Meanwhile, a witness reported that two illegal immigrants got into the Ford Explorer.