A 33-year-old parolee who fatally stabbed a convenience store customer as he left the outlet to return to his Indio home was bound for state prison Wednesday to serve a sentence of 36 years to life behind bars.
A Riverside jury in September convicted Vicente Angel Munoz of La Quinta of the 2020 slaying of 29-year-old Maurice Brock. Munoz was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentence-enhancing allegations of using a deadly weapon during a felony, inflicting great bodily injury and perpetrating a crime while on parole.
During a hearing Tuesday at the Riverside Hall of Justice, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Charles Koosed imposed the sentence required by law.
According to a trial brief filed by the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office, Brock walked to the Circle K at 79-985 Highway 111 with a friend just after midnight on March 14, 2020.
After the two men spent a few minutes purchasing cigarettes and other goods, they exited the store, walking in separate directions. The brief said that as Brock got roughly 75 yards from the Circle K, Munoz confronted him, pulling a knife for reasons unclear.
The victim bolted back toward the store, trying to reach the entrance with Munoz “in pursuit,” prosecutors wrote.
“The clerk locked the doors,” fearing she was about to be robbed because she did not immediately recognize Brock, who was a regular customer, according to the brief.
“The victim was attacked at the entry doors,” the brief stated. “The defendant … stabbed him with a knife repeatedly.”
Munoz inflicted a total of eight stab wounds, frightening away a motorist who pulled into the store parking lot and witnessed the attack, according to court papers.
The clerk, whose identity was not disclosed, called 911 as the defendant ceased his attack.
Brock quickly slipped into unconsciousness. Munoz fled the location before sheriff’s patrol deputies and paramedics arrived.
Brock was taken to JFK Memorial Hospital in Indio, where he died less than an hour later. Munoz returned to his family’s residence at 79-290 Camino Rosada, where he turned hostile with his brother and others, who called 911 saying “Vicente is waving a knife at the family,” court papers stated.
Deputies went to investigate and obtained a description of the assailant, realizing it matched the man who had perpetrated the attack on Brock.
After confirming Munoz was the man they wanted and that he was on active parole, investigators requested that his mobile phone provider “ping” his phone to isolate his location, and he was confirmed to be at a friend’s house, where he was taken into custody without incident that morning, according to the brief.
There was never a clear explanation for why he targeted Brock.
According to court records, Munoz had prior convictions for robbery, domestic violence, theft and vandalism.