A Riverside jury deliberated for just over a day before returning with unanimous verdicts against Edgar Ivan Gomez Garcia of Mead Valley for the deaths of 29-year-old Junior Rafael Gonzalez and 39-year-old Pedro Cortes Rodriguez in 2019.

Along with the murder counts, jurors found Garcia guilty of sentence- enhancing allegations of using a deadly weapon — a vehicle — in the commission of a felony and fleeing the scene.

Riverside County Superior Court Judge Bernard Schwartz did not immediately set a sentencing date. He ordered Garcia to remain held without bail at the Byrd Detention Center.

In the predawn hours of Oct. 18, 2019, the defendant and his then- friend, identified in court documents only as “Hector,” went to the El Rodeo Club & Restaurant at 24805 Alessandro Blvd., where Hector became inebriated, according to a trial brief filed by the District Attorney’s Office.

He was involved in an unspecified confrontation with a club patron that turned physical, culminating in two security guards hustling him out of the establishment into the parking lot, where the heavily intoxicated man continued to remain belligerent, court papers stated.

The guards deployed pepper spray, and one of them threw a gut punch, causing Hector to keel over in the parking lot, according to the brief. Garcia was walking to his friend’s Ford F-150 pickup truck when he saw what happened, prompting him to challenge the men to a fight but was talked out of it by another employee of the venue, prosecutors said.

Hector was unable to walk unassisted, requiring Garcia to “drag him through the parking lot,” at which point the victims, among a group of friends, “laughed and began to take video of Hector being dragged,” the brief said.

The defendant, inflamed by the group’s behavior, placed his friend in the pickup’s passenger seat and got behind the wheel. A security surveillance camera mounted on a business across the street recorded the ensuing moments after Garcia started the truck.

“The video captured the truck pull out of a parking stall and drive up the parking aisle toward a store next to El Rodeo,” according to the brief. “The truck turned right in front of the store, towards El Rodeo, and rapidly accelerated, screeching its tires. The truck came to an abrupt stop before reaching the front of El Rodeo. After a couple of seconds, the driver accelerated into the crowd. The footage captured the truck striking the victims and dragging their bodies across the asphalt.”

Witnesses dialed 911 as Garcia sped away.

Junior Gonzalez was pronounced dead at the scene. Rodriguez lingered in a coma for nine days at Riverside University Medical Center before he was taken off of life support.

Sheriff’s detectives gathered sufficient evidence from witnesses, as well as the Moreno Valley Citywide Camera System, to identify the pickup and its owner. That led to an interview with Hector several days later, during which he recalled only vague details about the incident, saying he remembered being helped into his pickup and into his son’s bed after arriving home, but virtually nothing else — and Garcia didn’t tell him anything, according to court papers.

He told investigators Garcia had been staying with him, sleeping on his living room couch for weeks, while the two went to work in Brea, but a day after the restaurant deaths, the defendant abruptly left and returned to his mother’s house in Mead Valley.

In a text message on Oct. 20, 2019, Garcia “encouraged Hector to get rid of the truck and to burn it,” the brief said.

Based on the evidence, especially eyewitness identification of Garcia as the driver, a warrant was obtained, and on Oct. 22, 2019, he was arrested without incident in Moreno Valley.

He has no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.

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RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — Leaving the scene of a crash is against the law in California, but it happened twice in less than six hours in Riverside County. In both cases, the victims were left to die.

The most recent incident was reported at about 3:40 a.m. Thursday in the area of Limonite and Pacific avenues in Jurupa Valley. According to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, a motorcycle was struck by a vehicle, sending the rider into the roadway.

Deputies and paramedics arrived and found the adult male rider gravely injured. He was taken to a regional trauma center, where he died a short time later. The man’s identity was not released.

The motorist who hit the bike allegedly fled the scene but was tracked down.

“The ensuing investigation led to the identification of the other vehicle, and it was later located at a residence in Jurupa Valley,” according to the sheriff’s department. “The driver … was identified, and the vehicle was impounded.”

No arrest was announced and the driver’s name was not released.

Anyone with information about the crash was asked to contact the sheriff’s Jurupa Valley Sheriff’s Station at 951-955-2600.

Just a few hours earlier, at around 10 p.m. Wednesday, a 25-year-old Winchester man who was out running in a Menifee residential neighborhood was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver.

The fatal incident was reported at 28760 Bradley Road. When Menifee police and Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department crews arrived at the scene, they found the man, later identified by the coroner as Victor Bello, unresponsive in the road. Despite efforts to save him, Bello died at the scene.

A Menifee police investigation determined Bello was running northbound on Bradley when he was hit by a vehicle traveling in the same direction. The driver did not stop.

Police believe the vehicle was possibly a 2021-2023 Hyundai Elantra.

The investigation is ongoing. Anyone who witnessed the incident or has more information is asked to call Menifee Police Officer Norwood at 951-723-1612 or contact the Menifee Police Department’s Traffic Unit at 951-723-1690.

The post 2 Killed In Separate Riverside County Hit-And-Runs appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

File # PE222270093

Details:

On Monday, August 15, 2022, at 6:52 PM, deputies from the Perris Station responded to a report of a major injury hit and run traffic collision at the intersection of Redlands Avenue and Orange Avenue in Perris. Upon the arrival of deputies, they located an adult male laying in the roadway suffering from major injuries. The male was transported to the hospital by ambulance in critical condition.

The preliminary investigation revealed the male was walking westbound on Orange Avenue, crossing the intersection at Redlands Avenue when a grey sedan driving northbound on Redlands Avenue struck the male and fled the scene. Witnesses and bystanders stopped to assist the male and call emergency services.

This collision is still under investigation and anyone with information regarding this incident is urged to contact Deputy Jess Kiebach of the Perris Station’s Traffic Team at (951) 210-1000 or call anonymously at (760) 341-STOP (7867).

For media inquiries regarding this incident please contact the Media Information Bureau.

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The post Hit-and-Run in Perris Leaves One Man Hospitalized appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.