People v. Mendoza CA2/5

I. BACKGROUND

A. The Initial Confrontation Between Defendant and Garcia that Led to the Shooting In the morning on October 9, 2016, victim Garcia parked near an El Pollo Loco restaurant located in the Harbor City neighborhood of Los Angeles. The restaurant was situated near a number of other businesses lining a triangular plaza; those other enterprises included a hamburger restaurant, a small grocery store, and a smoke shop. The shopping plaza fell within the territory claimed by the Harbor City Boys, a criminal street gang, and certain buildings surrounding the plaza were “tagged” with graffiti associated with that gang. When Garcia parked at the shopping plaza on the day in question, he was wearing a hat emblazoned with a red “W,” which was apparel associated with the East Side Wilmas, a criminal street gang that is a rival of the Harbor City Boys. He entered the El Pollo Loco, where his girlfriend Cynthia Renteria

2 (Renteria) worked, and began arguing with her. After other people intervened and succeeded in calming him down, Garcia left. Two hours later, however, Garcia returned to the plaza and yelled at Renteria through the El Pollo Loco drive-through window. At that…