A 22-year-old man made his initial court appearance Monday on charges stemming from a deadly gang-related shooting at an Anaheim park in the fall of 2018.
Fabian Santiago Mascareno is charged with murder with a special circumstances allegation of gang activity, along with three counts of attempted murder and sentencing enhancement allegations of discharge of a gun causing great bodily injury or death, gang activity, a gang member’s vicarious discharge of a gun causing great bodily injury, and discharge of a firearm.
Mascareno, who’s being held without bail, was ordered to return to court May 27 for arraignment, according to court records.
Anaheim SWAT officers arrested Mascareno about 3 a.m. Friday at a home in Riverside. Police had identified Mascareno as a suspect shortly after the shooting, but the defendant had eluded them for more than a year and a half, said Anaheim police Sgt. Shane Carringer.
Co-defendant Hipolito Sanchez was charged in October 2018, shortly after the shooting. He is awaiting trial on one count of murder and three counts of attempted murder, with sentencing enhancement allegations of gang activity, discharge of a gun and attempted premeditated murder.
The defendants are accused of gunning down 24-year-old Merfy Rivera about 2:45 p.m. on Oct. 25, 2018, at Chaparral Park, 1770 W. Broadway. Another victim — a 48-year-old man — was shot in the back but survived, Carringer said.
Two other men were also the targets of the gunfire, but avoided injury, he said.