Posted on 12/03/2008 1:28:06 PM PST by BenLurkin
Juan Mesa, 28, and Alejandro Moreno, 39, Both Had Criminal Records PALM DESERT Both men who died on "Black Friday" in a shootout inside the Toys "R" Us store on Highway 111 at Fred Waring Drive had criminal records, and one of them is believed to have been a gang member, authorities said Wednesday.
Juan Meza, 28, of Cathedral City, had a tattoo that read "VMV," which indicates that he was a member an Indio-area gang called Varrio Mecca Vineyards, Riverside County District Attorney's Office spokesman Michael Jeandron said.
Alejandro Moreno, 39, of Desert Hot Springs, was also killed in the shooting.
Meza pleaded guilty in March and in November 2007 to being a felon in possession of a firearm. In September 2005, he pleaded guilty to assault with a weapon, and in 2002, he pleaded guilty to possessing a controlled substance for sale while armed, according to court records.
Records show that Moreno had a criminal record spanning back to 1998, when he pleaded guilty to inflicting corporal injury on a spouse. Charges of assault with a deadly weapon, criminal threats and willfully harming a child were dismissed as part of a plea deal.
Moreno and Meza shot each other to death as parents and children were shopping for holiday gifts, Riverside County sheriff's Sgt. Dennis Gutierrez said. Two guns were recovered near the men's bodies.
Witnesses said the men were with two women who got into a fight that escalated into the fatal shootings, which sent terrified shoppers and their children scrambling for cover.
One or both might just maybe have been illegal aliens.
For the same reason that, in many reports, some female has "found herself pregnant" after just sleeping with a boyfriend, with seemingly no sexual activity involved. Just sleeping.
Other times, just walking down the the street, they 'fell pregnant', but no mention of what they tripped over.
Were any innocent bystanders struck by errant fire?
Story noted, move on please
With criminal records like that, and in Southern California, I’m really surprised they were able to get concealed carry permits.
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And that one looks small enough that it'll be easy to use. The one I was looking at in the gun store was too big.
He sent me the info, and we can print it out.
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