A gang member who laughed about gunning down a phlebotomy student in Santa Ana as the victim begged for his life and tried to run away was convicted Monday of first-degree murder.
After shooting 20-year-old Edgar Sura, Ricardo Ray Alcala picked up a flower and handed it to his getaway driver girlfriend while declaring “I love you,” according to Deputy District Attorney Erik Petersen.
Alcala and his gang were prowling a Santa Ana neighborhood for rivals on Oct. 19, 2012, when they spotted Sura riding his bicycle, Petersen said.
Jurors deliberated about two hours before convicting Alcala, 26, of murder, possession of a firearm by a felon and street terrorism. They also found true a special circumstance allegation of committing the crime for the benefit of a street gang.
He faces life in prison without the possibility of parole, with formal sentencing set for June 12.
Co-defendants Jeamy Beatriz Melendez, 25, and Isaac Angel Martinez, 27, are scheduled to go on trial later. Melendez, who was a “hood rat” for Alcala’s gang and was in a romantic relationship with Alcala, testified for the prosecution and is expected to receive a plea deal, Petersen said.
Sura was riding his bicycle through the neighborhood shortly after midnight when he was confronted in a “gang hit-up,” which involves asking the target which gang they belong to, Petersen said. Sura, who was studying to become a phlebotomist, was not involved in any gang, the prosecutor said. “He was good and kind, and he was getting his degree in phlebotomy because he wanted to work in the healthcare field,” Petersen told City News Service after the verdict.
Petersen told jurors in his opening statement that the motive for the killing “is sad, but not uncommon in gang homicides.”
“(Sura) was in the wrong place at the wrong time and was perceived to be in a rival gang … and he was executed by this defendant, Ricardo Alcala,” the prosecutor said.
Sura denied any gang affiliation and begged for his life, according to Petersen. The victim was shot in the back as he ran away, and he kept running “for quite some distance” until he finally collapsed in front of a home and bled to death, Petersen said.
The three defendants had been at a party before the shooting that they returned to afterward, Petersen said. Following his arrest, Alcala boasted to an undercover officer, who was secretly tape-recording the conversation while the two were in a Santa Ana jail cell, about the killing.
“I heard people talking, saying the homey didn’t bang, but (expletive) him,” Alcala said.
He described how he hit his target with his .380-caliber, semiautomatic pistol as a “(expletive) good shot,” Petersen said.
Alcala gave the murder weapon to Sandra Saldana to dispose of, Petersen said. Alcala did not know Saldana had a long history of being a confidential informant for Garden Grove police, the prosecutor said.
— City News Service