By Sophie Marconi
On July 29 at 1:30 pm in Department 8, the preliminary hearing of the People against Alejandro Loza Quezada resumed. The preliminary hearing was not completed, as there were still witnesses who needed to provide testimony who did not appear in court, so the hearing will reconvene Monday morning at 9 am.
The first witness who provided testimony was a female police officer whose name is not available. This officer stated that she spoke to one of the witnesses, who at the time of the incident was coming home from Little Caesars with her mother, driving southbound on 5th Street in Woodland. The witness testified that there were two vehicles swerving on the roadway on 5th St. One black car and one grey car were traveling southbound when the driver of the grey vehicle stopped the vehicle and got out of the car. At this moment, another man exited the grey vehicle, removed a gun from his waistband, and shot at the black vehicle. Following the incident, the black vehicle left northbound on 5th St.
After the prosecution finished their direct examination of the officer, the defense began their cross-examination of the police officer. The officer had spoken to nine separate witnesses regarding the incident. The first witness who gave a statement stated that she was in her home when she heard car tires screeching and came outside. When she came outside, she saw a Hispanic male in a tan car yelling at someone. She was not able to see the person this man was yelling at. She stated that, soon after the yelling, she saw the man from the tan car shoot a gun, so she ran back inside. Once she had returned home, she heard multiple gunshots. She stated that once she was inside, she saw the shooter run to her window and attempt to look inside before running away.
The police officer then answered more questions about the previous witness who was driving on 5th St., and ran through her police statement. This witness had said that the man who exited the tan car was Hispanic, thin, and wore a white shirt, red shorts, and was about six feet tall. The second man who was in the vehicle was wearing a white shirt and had visible facial hair. This was the man who pulled his gun from his waistband and shot at the black vehicle.
The People’s next witness was Detective Pablo Gonzales. Det. Gonzales was assigned follow-up investigation of the shooting. He went to Woodland Memorial Hospital to meet the victim of the shooting, Geovanny Gomez. Detective Gonzales was never able to speak directly to Mr. Gomez, as he was in critical condition before he passed away during attempted resuscitation. Gonzales spoke with the nurse, who told him that Mr. Gomez had been shot in the side and the calf.
Det. Gonzales took swabs from blood that was in the vehicle in which Mr. Gomez was transported to the hospital. Gonzales stated that there were no firearms in that vehicle.
During his investigation, Det. Gonzales later discovered that there was a MoneyGram receipt in the suspected shooter’s vehicle. This MoneyGram led him to a local Walmart, where he pulled the surveillance tapes in an attempt to identify the suspect.
The detective later showed this surveillance tape to multiple witnesses. The first witness who viewed the tape identified the man in the surveillance tape to match the description of Alejandro Quezada as the man she saw shoot at the black vehicle.
The detective noticed that Quezada appeared to be with a young woman in the surveillance tape, so he ran some computer checks looking for arrests matching the prototype of the young woman and was able to find her by getting information about her employment and residency. He eventually got in touch with the young woman’s mother, who immediately suspected that the trouble had to do with her new boyfriend, Queszada.
The detective was later able to question the young woman about her boyfriend when the parents agreed to pick her up for dinner and let the officer speak with her. At this point, the young woman told the police officer that Quezada was in her apartment, so the police went and retrieved him.
Det. Gonzales asked Quezada about the vehicle from the crime scene, to which Quezada responded that he had not bought or registered a car since the last time he was in prison, which was in 2010. The detective also questioned Quezada’s brother, Ernesto Loza, who appeared very nervous. Gonzales stated that Ernesto Loza had such an elevated heart rate, even before questioning, that he could see his pulse through his neck. Officer Gonzales estimated that his heart rate was never under 110 during and leading up to questioning.
Ernesto said the last time he saw his brother was in May. Alejandro had been living with his brother and sister-in-law, but his sister-in-law made him leave, as she was not comfortable with his presence.
The last witness brought to the stand was Detective Tim Keeney. Det. Keeney also viewed the surveillance tapes from Walmart and showed the tape to some witnesses who had sen the crime. Both witnesses who viewed the tape said they were nearly positive that the man they saw on the tape was the man they saw shoot at the black vehicle.
Det. Keeney testified that he went into the home of Alejandro Quezada and found two pistols in a dresser, one matching the description given by the witnesses. He also found ammunition in the same drawer. Later during his search he found a cumulative 36.29 grams of methamphetamine throughout the apartment.
At this point the preliminary hearing was ended and scheduled to resume Monday morning August 1 at 9 am.
