The night of Oct. 12, 2019, Ricardo Banderas was standing on a Ventura street corner with his older brother. Seconds later, gunshots rang out, and his brother was on the ground bleeding.
Banderas was one of the prosecution’s first witnesses in the trial of the alleged shooter: Kristian Fonseca. On Feb. 25, the day the trial started, the witness told a Ventura County jury that the attack left his brother with life-altering injuries and that he still doesn’t understand why they would be targeted.
Fonseca, 27, of Fillmore, is accused of injuring Banderas’ brother in the Ventura shooting and then, a year later, killing two men and injuring another in a Santa Paula shooting, according to the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office.
He is on trial for two counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder and one count of possessing a firearm less than 10 years after certain misdemeanors, court records show.
The two shootings, one random act of violence
Around 11:30 p.m. Oct. 12, 2019, Ventura Police Department officers responded to a shooting at the intersection of Simpson Street and Ventura Avenue, where they found a man with life-threatening gunshot wounds to his torso. He was transported to Ventura County Medical Center for treatment.
Police said the incident was a random act of violence with no connection between the victim and suspect, and on Oct. 27, 2020, they arrested Fonseca on suspicion of attempted murder. The next month, they also arrested Santa Paula resident Isaac Zuniga in relation to the shooting, and court records show he was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon.
Two other men were also arrested in connection with the shooting, but, according to court records, they were never charged.
The second shooting was reported around 10:15 p.m. Oct. 24, 2020, in the 200 block of East Ventura Street in Santa Paula, police said. Jose Estrada, a 24-year-old Santa Paula resident, was pronounced dead at the scene while Daniel Zuniga, a 25-year-old Santa Paula resident, died at the hospital after two weeks on life support, according to police. Another victim was hospitalized for injuries but survived.
Fonseca, already in custody, was charged in relation to the second shooting in December 2020.
Brothers targeted for no apparent reason
Deputy District Attorney Blake Heller’s first few witnesses focused on the first of the two shootings.
Banderas, who was 17 at the time of the incident, testified that he was standing near Simpson Street and Ventura Avenue with his older brother, who was 29.
He said he saw a man get out of what appeared to be a gray Dodge and approach them, asking his brother, “Where are you from?” His brother replied, “I grew up right here on the Avenue,” Banderas told the jury.
The man, Banderas said, shot twice at his brother, who fell to the ground. Banderas ran away as he heard two more shots fired toward him.
He said he called 911 from someone’s backyard, and when officers arrived, he asked if his brother was dead.
His brother survived, but more than six years later, he still requires a colostomy bag and has limited use of one of his hands, Banderas testified.
Banderes said his brother was unarmed at the time of the incident and has never been involved with any gang. He could not think of any reason why someone would want to hurt them.
Witness testifies about Ventura shooting
Rene Castillo Lopez told the jury that he witnessed the Ventura shooting while visiting a taco truck with a coworker.
Through a Spanish interpreter, he testified that he saw a man walking away from a car — a small Honda or Toyota stopped in the middle of the street with its trunk and passenger door open. The man was wearing a black shirt, gray shorts and white socks and holding a shotgun, Castillo Lopez said.
He then heard two or three gunshots and saw another man on the ground, and he ran into Red Barn Corner Liquor for shelter, he said.
He said his own driver’s side window had been broken during the shooting.
Detective details investigation
Anthony Reginato, currently the district attorney’s office’s investigator on the case, testified about his previous role as a Ventura Police Department detective assigned to the shooting.
In the days following the incident, he had little information. The victim was still in critical condition and did not remember what happened. Reginato said he only knew that the suspect used a 12-gauge shotgun with slug shots and fled westbound on Simpson Street in a dark-colored car.
Based on his law enforcement experience, however, he believed the shooting was gang related, he testified. He said the shooter’s question, “Where are you from?” is commonly used to determine which gang someone belongs to and almost always ends with violence.
He said based on his background search, neither the victim of his brother, Ricardo Banderas, was connected to any gangs.
Early in his investigation, he retrieved the surveillance footage from Red Barn Corner Liquor.
The video presented to the jury shows a blue Honda Accord parking in the lot, and a man wearing a gray hoodie, black shorts, white socks and black shoes getting out of the front passenger seat, walking to the driver’s side and then getting back in the car. The car then pulls out of the lot and turns onto Simpson Street before stopping in the middle of the road. While the brake lights are still on, four muzzle flashes illuminate the street.
From the footage, Reginato obtained the Honda’s licence plate number, which he said belonged to a Santa Paula woman with no criminal record. The woman told him that her brother, Isaac Zuniga, may have borrowed her car, he said.
Reginato didn’t find any weapons at Isaac Zuniga’s home but confiscated his cell phone.
During his testimony, Reginato said that prior to the incident, Isaac Zuniga posted on social media asking for a firearm and for people to join him in committing a crime. His phone was turned off during the shooting, but in the hours after, he was using a police scanner app, Reginato said.
Reginato said he obtained call detail records for the phone numbers that Isaac Zuniga repeatedly contacted in the days leading up to the shooting and Fonseca was on the list. Cell tower data showed the defendant’s phone was near Simpson Street and Ventura Avenue at the time of the crime, he said.
The trial will resume March 2 and is expected to last six weeks. Fonseca remains in custody at Todd Road Jail with bail set at just over $3 million.
Makena Huey is an investigative and watchdog reporter for the Ventura County Star. Reach her at makena.huey@vcstar.com. This story was made possible by a grant from the Ventura County Community Foundation’s Fund to Support Local Journalism.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Trial begins for man accused of Santa Paula double homicide
Reporting by Makena Huey, Ventura County Star / Ventura County Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
