Witness Describes 2011 Bar Shooter in Murder Trial; Defendant Allegedly Fled to Mexico

By Alana Bleimann and Julia Asby

WOODLAND – Judge David W. Reed in Yolo County Superior Tuesday listened as two witnesses testified in the pre-hearing conference against defendant Jose Luis Gomez Arreola, charged with attempted murder of multiple people outside a popular Woodland bar back in May of 2011.

The conference began with private defense attorney Michael Chastaine and District Deputy Attorney Alex Kian questioning the first witness on the stand.

This witness claimed to have known Jose “a long time ago” because “he was together” with a sister of his, but “it’s been a long time” since the two men spoke, he said.

“He drove a pickup,” the witness said, “it was a 244, it was a diesel pickup,” adding he didn’t talk to the defendant in 2012 at all, but detectives interviewed the witness, asking “me about what happened to Jose Luis.”

The witness, when asked if the defendant fled to Mexico because he shot someone, said, “I figured it out…he never really spoke to me,” the witness said in response.

The witness then revealed that he actually did know about the altercation because “she [his sister] has two children that he fathered and that’s how I figured it out.

“After he left my sister he started living in a house with a bunch of people that was rented…in Fairfield,” the witness added, noting that the defendant “started to hang out with others who were drinking and doing drugs and that’s when the guns started coming out. There were several people there” in the residence that “worked with him [Jose].”

A second witness was also male and claimed to have been outside the bar at the time of the shooting, including hearing “gunshots.” He then identified the defendant as the man he saw shooting, explaining there was a fight with “three or four guys that were fighting.”

The witness said an “acquaintance…fought with another man that night” and that other man “had no shirt on,” who allegedly yelled “Hey, f**k those guys up with the cowboy hats” outside a bar. And that’s when the witness saw the “shooter with the gun,” and shots were fired.

“There were several [people] because they were all going outside [from the bar]” and the “first ones were involved in the fight but not the others,” the second witness stated, adding everybody ran and then the victim “fell to the ground” after one shot.

He said he saw the shooter run to a nearby “dark color” vehicle and fired more shots as he was leaving.

At this point, Judge Reed interrupted the questioning and requested that the testimonies be continued.

Alana Bleimann is a junior at the University of San Francisco majoring in Sociology with a minor in Criminal Justice Studies. She is from Raleigh, North Carolina.


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  • Vanguard Court Watch Interns

    The Vanguard Court Watch operates in Yolo, Sacramento and Sacramento Counties with a mission to monitor and report on court cases. Anyone interested in interning at the Courthouse or volunteering to monitor cases should contact the Vanguard at info(at)davisvanguard(dot)org - please email info(at)davisvanguard(dot)org if you find inaccuracies in this report.

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