A 36-year-old man with a previous felony conviction was convicted Thursday of a gang-related shooting and convenience store robbery in Santa Ana five years ago.
Erick Benitez Mendoza was convicted of shooting a man in the chest and upper arm, while also grazing his head, about 10 p.m. March 6, 2020, in front of an apartment building at 1107 W. Highland St., between Bristol and Flower streets, prosecutors said in a trial brief.
The following night Mendoza was pulled over in the same car, which was registered to his mother, that he and two others fled in after the shooting, prosecutors said. Mendoza claimed to be in bed at the time of the shooting, but cellphone records indicated he was in the area, prosecutors said.
Mendoza got into a conflict with his wife about 2 a.m. June 6, 2020, when she brought shoes that he needed to him. Afterward she drove him to a convenience store to buy beer but he stayed in the car because he was worried police were nearby and he had a gun on him, prosecutors said.
After the couple got the beer his wife drove him back to 950 W. Bishop St. as he complained about “issues in his life,” prosecutors said. The two got into an argument because he was receiving text messages from another woman and when she confronted him about it he grew enraged and pointed a gun at her, saying, “I’m going to kill you,” prosecutors said.
When his wife threatened to call police he ran away, prosecutors said.
On June 25, 2020, police confronted him at a car wash where officers found a gun, 1.48 grams of heroin and .53 grams of methamphetamine, prosecutors said.
On July 11, 2020, he pulled out a gun at Saddleback Liquor in Santa Ana and ordered a clerk to open a cash register, prosecutors said. Mendoza snatched cash and ordered the clerk to the floor, where he demanded the victim’s watch, prosecutors said.
On Jan. 7, 2021, he hurled a gun out of the window of a car he was riding in when the driver was pulled over, prosecutors said.
For the July 11, 2020, robbery Mendoza was convicted of attempted murder, two counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm, criminal threats, possession of a gun by a felon, possession of a controlled substance while armed, possession of a gun in a school zone, robbery, assault with a firearm, and two counts of possession of a gun by a felon, all felonies.
Jurors also found true sentencing enhancements for attempted premeditated murder, the personal use of a gun.
Mendoza was scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 27 in the North Justice Center in Fullerton.