A felon accused with another man of perpetrating a robbery in Perris during which shots were fired at several people must stand trial for armed robbery and other offenses, a judge ruled Thursday.
Daniel Brandon Gonzalez, 21, of Perris, was arrested in March following a Riverside County Sheriff’s Department investigation.
At the end of a preliminary hearing Thursday, Superior Court Judge Scott Williams found there was sufficient evidence to bound Gonzalez over for trial on two counts of armed robbery and one count each of attempted murder, firearm assault, being a felon in possession of a loaded gun and parole violations.
The judge scheduled a post-preliminary hearing arraignment for Aug. 29 at the Riverside Hall of Justice.
At the outset of Thursday’s hearing, Gonzalez’s co-defendant, 22-year-old Ethan Michael Morris of Perris, pleaded guilty to grand theft under a plea deal negotiated with the District Attorney’s Office. In exchange for his admission, prosecutors agreed to drop two related charges against Morris.
Williams scheduled the defendant’s sentencing for Aug. 29.
He’s being held in lieu of $130,000 bail at the Byrd Detention Center in Murrieta. Gonzalez is being held without bail at the Robert Presley Jail in Riverside.
According to sheriff’s Sgt. Chad Thompson, the pair allegedly confronted several people, whose identities were not released, shortly after 8 p.m. March 15 at a business in the 500 block of West Fourth Street, near Park Avenue.
During the encounter, Gonzalez allegedly pulled a handgun and demanded money from the victims, then shot at one of them, but missed, authorities said.
The man was not injured.
The defendants allegedly fled the location.
The case was turned over to detectives, who spent the ensuing days developing leads that ultimately pointed to Gonzalez and Morris as the alleged robbers.
A search warrant was served within a week at Gonzalez’s property in the 300 block of West Third Street, where “items of evidentiary value were located, along with three firearms,” Thompson said.
The defendant was taken into custody without incident.
Morris was arrested days earlier after he was questioned by investigators at the sheriff’s Perris station.
Court records show he has a prior conviction for assault resulting in great bodily injury, while Gonzalez has priors for domestic violence and assault.