A 30-year-old man shot by Costa Mesa police responding to a violent robbery was sentenced Friday to five years in prison.
Gabriel Tamayopaniagua was convicted April 14 of attempted voluntary manslaughter. The defendant was charged last year with attempted murder, but jurors convicted him of a lesser charge. Jurors also found true a sentencing enhancement for the personal use of a deadly weapon and inflicting great bodily injury on the victim.
Police responded to a call of a fight at a business in the 2200 block of Fairview Road about 4:45 a.m. March 11, 2021, police said. When the officers arrived a robbery was in process, they said.
A knife-wielding suspect was attacking a cashier when the shooting occurred, police said.
The victim and Tamayopaniagua were taken to hospitals to be treated for their injuries, police said.
Tamayopaniaqua was given credit for 695 days in jail. Prosecutors recommended seven years in prison, with a maximum punishment of 9 1/2 years, according to court records.
The defendant’s attorney, Christopher Hennes, said in court papers his client was attempting to defend himself from an “unprovoked assault.”
The clerk hit him with a steel club when he “took too long to make a purchase,” Hennes said. Tamayopaniaqua did not react, but when the clerk “came at him a second time, now viciously swinging the club at his head, defendant disarmed him,” Hennes said.
“After the ensuing hand-to-hand fighting, defendant emerged with a deep stab wound to his left chest… and a bleeding cut on his arm,” the attorney said. “It was then that (the clerk) claims defendant produced a knife and made a single, ineffectual stabbing motion. He was punished with three shots from (an officer’s) service weapon.”
The defendant “very nearly died from the collective trauma… (and) lost his job, his intestine and is trying to keep from losing more of his time,” Hennes said. “Defendant has served 18 months in custody for defending himself against an unprovoked attack.”