People v. Castaneda CA4/3

FACTS

This case arises out of a shooting that occurred near Santa Ana’s Main Place mall in 2009. At that time, Castaneda, aka Oso, and Luna were members of a criminal street gang called the Santa Ana Stoners (SAS). Christian Medina was also in SAS. In fact, he was at the center of the storm on the day of the shooting. Medina lived in the same building as Brenda Mendoza, and both of them attended a small continuation high school located just off Main Street in Santa Ana. On February 20, 2009, at about 11:00 a.m., they were outside for gym class when Zavala, a former student at the school, came up to Mendoza and started talking with her. Seeing this, Medina confronted Zavala, asking him where he was from. Medina claimed SAS and began making various hands signs. The two exchanged heated words, but nothing further transpired between them at that time. When gym class ended, Medina and Mendoza went back to school, and Zavala went about his way. A short while later, around 12:15 p.m., school ended for the day. While Mendoza was waiting for her mother to pick her up, she noticed a group of students gathered across the street from the school. She went over to see what was going on and…