People v. Sida CA2/4

BACKGROUND

On February 3, 2012, around 6:15 p.m., someone fired 10 bullets into a car driven by John Riccio, an 18th Street gang member, just after he parked at the College Hotel, a residential hotel located in the 4600 block of Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles. Also in the car were Jack Eloyan and a third passenger. Riccio was struck in the shoulder. He screamed, stumbled from the car, and fell. Eloyan and the other passenger, who were not hit, helped him to room 103, where Gabby Cuevas, a friend of Riccio’s, lived. Los Angeles Police Officers Robert Chellew and Frank Zuniga responded to the scene and were directed to room 103, where they found Riccio screaming and bleeding from his shoulder. The officers made him lie down, applied pressure to the wound, and summoned an ambulance. Officer Garrett Breegle canvassed the immediate area, including entering a nearby barbershop where he saw Rosa Carranza, defendant’s girlfriend, whom Officer Breegle knew to be a member of the La Mirada Locos. Defendant, also a La Mirada Locos member, was in the rear of the shop, wearing a barber’s smock and vigorously washing his hands and face in the sink. Shortly thereafter defendant was taken…