A 24-year-old man who shot two bar patrons during a brawl in the parking lot outside the Woodcrest establishment, then fled south of the border, is facing prison time after his conviction for attempted voluntary manslaughter and other offenses.
A Riverside jury returned with verdicts late Monday afternoon following two days of deliberations in the trial of Bryan Corona of Moreno Valley. Along with the manslaughter count, jurors found Corona guilty of two counts of firearm assault and sentence-enhancing gun and great bodily injury allegations connected to the 2023 attack. They acquitted him of another charge of attempted voluntary manslaughter.
Riverside County Superior Court Judge Jerry Yang scheduled a sentencing hearing for July 25 at the Riverside Hall of Justice. Corona remains held in lieu of $2 million bail at the Robert Presley Jail. He’s facing more than 10 years behind bars.
According to a trial brief filed by the District Attorney’s Office, shortly after 1 a.m. May 20, 2023, Corona and three friends were socializing outside the Flat Top Bar & Grill in the 17900 block of Van Buren Boulevard, near Gamble Avenue, when the victims, identified in court documents as “Mr. Hill” and “Mr. Jones,” walked past them.
There was initially no trouble until Jones made critical remarks about one of the young men. There was a further exchange of words, prompting Jones to walk aggressively toward Corona’s 2017 Volkswagen Jetta, where the defendant and his buddies were standing, the brief said.
When Corona told the victim to get away from his car, a shoving match ensued and both men threw punches, according to the narrative. Hill attempted to intervene but was perceived as a threat by the defendant’s friends, who engaged him in fisticuffs, culminating in a melee, witnesses told detectives.
A bar security guard observing the fight said it appeared to him that “the defendant and his group were trying to `jump’ Mr. Hill,” whom he knew, along with Jones, both regular patrons, according to the brief.
Within seconds, Hill and the other combatants withdrew, while Jones remained engaged in the altercation, throwing punches at the young men near the passenger side of the Jetta, prosecutors said. Though the victim was unarmed, Corona reached inside his car and pulled out a 9mm semiautomatic handgun, leveling the pistol at Jones and opening fire, the brief said.
The defendant fired five times, hitting Jones once in the lower back, then trained the weapon on Hill, firing three additional shots, striking the victim once in the stomach and once in the right arm.
Corona told his friends to get into his car, and they sped away. However, he lost control and crashed in a field in the 18200 Van Buren Boulevard in Riverside, less than two miles from where the shooting occurred.
The airbags deployed, and the Jetta couldn’t be restarted. The young men, none of whom suffered injuries, fled from the location, after which Corona’s girlfriend was contacted and retrieved them in her vehicle a short time later, dropping them elsewhere, having no knowledge of what had happened at the bar, prosecutors said.
Jones was taken to Riverside University Medical Center in Moreno Valley, where he underwent surgery for the gunshot wound and recovered. Hill was treated for his wounds at Riverside Community Hospital, also making a complete recovery.
Corona fled to Jalisco, Mexico. His friends did not attempt to evade law enforcement and cooperated with investigators. None were charged.
Corona was apprehended in mid September 2023 near Guadalajara, Mexico. He was extradited back to the U.S. less than a week later.
The defendant had no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.