A 27-year-old man accused of shooting at two pedestrians, wounding one, in a drive-by attack in downtown Riverside stemming from an earlier scuffle must stand trial for attempted murder and other offenses, a judge ruled Monday.
Hector Alfonso Sanchez Torres of Home Gardens was arrested in March following a Riverside Police Department investigation.
At the end of a preliminary hearing Monday, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Francisco Navarro found there was sufficient evidence to bound Torres over for trial on the two counts of attempted murder, as well as one count of firing a gun from a moving vehicle and sentence-enhancing gun and great bodily injury allegations.
Navarro scheduled a post-preliminary hearing arraignment for Oct. 20 at the Riverside Hall of Justice. The defendant is being held in lieu of $1 million bail at the Robert Presley Detention Center.
According to police, in the predawn hours of March 30, the defendant was involved in an unspecified conflict with two men, identified in court documents only as “E.F.” and “E.R.,” near the intersection of University Avenue and Main Street — an area known as the Entertainment District.
After the altercation ended, Torres went to his vehicle and then drove back to where the parties with whom he had fought were walking, police spokesman Officer Ryan Railsback said.
“The suspect drove along University … and shot at the victims before fleeing,” Railsback said.
Railsback said one of the pedestrians was hit in a leg and taken to Riverside Community Hospital for treatment. He has since recovered. The other victim allegedly targeted by the defendant was not hurt.
Officers from the department’s Metro Team followed up leads pointing to Torres as the alleged shooter, according to Railsback. The defendant was located and taken into custody without incident roughly eight hours after the alleged shooting, at a property on Windsong Street in Home Gardens.
Torres has no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.