A Ventura gang member has been found guilty of one count of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder, according to District Attorney Erik Nasarenko. After an 18-day trial, Erick Estrada, age 35, was convicted for the murder of Gabriel Gutierrez, as well as for the attempted murder and assault with a firearm of Michael Owens and Thomas Bakkila. In addition, the jury upheld special allegations regarding the use of a firearm and murder while lying in wait.
Estrada's violent spree began on June 15, 2013, near the Ventura Pier, where he, along with a juvenile, engaged in an altercation with Owens and Bakkila. The altercation escalated to the juvenile initiating a fistfight, during which Estrada discharged multiple rounds at the victims, both sustaining gunshot wounds but, surviving. In a separate and fatal confrontation on July 31, Estrada, alongside a different minor, lured Gutierrez to a secluded area where, after a brief fistfight, Estrada shot and killed Gutierrez.
The arrest of Erick Estrada for the said crimes took place on July 22, 2014, while he was already in custody at the Ventura County Jail on separate attempted murder charges related to the pier incident. Acknowledging the efforts of law enforcement and the jury, Senior Deputy District Attorney John Barrick lauded, "I am grateful to the Ventura Police Department for their tireless investigation into these incidents, as well as to this jury for the hard work they did in sifting through the voluminous amounts of evidence presented in this case to reach the appropriate verdicts. I firmly believe the jury made our community safer with their verdicts today," according to a statement on the district attorney's website.
Estrada, with a long list of charges including murder, attempted murder, and assault with a deadly weapon, along with special allegations of lying in wait and personal and intentional discharge of a firearm, remains incarcerated without bail. His sentencing is scheduled for April 11, 2024, in the Ventura County Superior Court, where the gravity of his crimes could result in a substantial prison term.
