UPDATE: The Yolo County District Attorney’s Office is declining to file charges against Ernesto Loza for the July 1 shooting death of Geovanny Gomez, aYolo Superior Court judge announced in court this afternoon.
A spokesman for the DA’s office could not immediately be reached for comment.
Original story:
WOODLAND — Police have made a second arrest in connection with the shooting death of a 35-year-old Woodland man that occurred earlier this month.
Ernesto Jose Loza, 30, was taken into custody on murder and attempted murder charges during a vehicle stop at about 5:40 p.m. Tuesday, Woodland police Sgt. Brett Hancock announced Thursday.
According to Hancock, Loza is the brother of another suspect in the fatal shooting, Alejandro Loza Quezada, 33, who pleaded not guilty in Yolo Superior Court on Wednesday to murder and other charges that have him facing the death penalty.
Court records show Quezada has a troubled past as well, his criminal record dating back to at least 1999.
Both Loza and Quezada — who once lived in the Davis area but was staying in Woodland at the time of his arrest last week — stand accused of fatally shooting 35-year-old Geovanny Yabet Gomez during a July 1 vehicle chase in a residential neighborhood.
Which brother allegedly pulled the trigger, however, remains under investigation, Hancock said.
The murder count filed against Quezada carries a special-circumstance allegation that he carried out the shooting to further the activities of a criminal street gang — a charge that, if proven, qualifies him for either the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Yolo County Deputy District Attorney Robin Johnson said in court Wednesday that her office has not determined whether it will seek capital punishment in the case.
The eight-page criminal complaint filed against Quezada also charges him with attempted murder — for a passenger in Gomez’s vehicle who was shot and injured — shooting at an occupied vehicle, possession of a firearm by an ex-felon, drug possession and participation in criminal street gang activity.
Quezada also faces a case enhancement for serving a prior prison term for transportation of narcotics.
According to Yolo Superior Court records, Quezada was prosecuted as an adult in 1999 on charges of kidnapping, attempted rape, assault and false imprisonment, eventually making a plea deal in which he admitted to false imprisonment and attempted rape counts.
Police arrested him again in 2005 for being a felon in possession of a firearm, carrying a concealed dagger and resisting arrest, a case in which he was sentenced to probation.
Court records show he violated that probation with subsequent arrests for driving with a suspended license in 2008 and transportation of marijuana for sales in 2009. After numerous court hearings his probation was revoked, and Judge David Reed sentenced him to state prison in 2012.
An online arrest report lists Quezada’s address on Harvey Way in the Royal Oak manufactured home community — which is adjacent to South Davis but is within county jurisdiction — though Hancock said he has not lived there for several years.
A preliminary hearing in the current homicide case is scheduled for July 27 before Judge Samuel McAdam.
Gomez’s death occurred just two days after another shooting that killed Arnulfo Bermudez Jr., 31, though police have not confirmed whether the two homicides are connected.
No suspects have been arrested or publicly named in connection with Bermudez’s death, which marked Woodland’s first homicide since December.
Loza, meanwhile, is being held without bail at the Yolo County Jail, his court arraignment scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Friday.
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene