Two people have been arrested in connection with a confrontation that led to the shooting death of a man in the parking lot of a Stanton nightclub in June, sheriff’s officials said Tuesday.
Jose PerezOrtiz, 30, and Valerie Aguirre, 29, have been charged in the June 5 death of David Hernandez, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department said in a news release. PerezOrtiz, of Torrance, is accused of homicide, while Aguirre, of Bellflower is accused of acting as an accessory to homicide.
Hernandez, 28, was shot between 2:20 and 2:30 a.m. that morning in the parking lot of Noche De Mexico nightclub located at 10560 S. Magnolia Avenue.
Originally the Sheriff’s Department did not have much information about what exactly happened during the shooting, but after asking for the public’s assistance in identifying a red Jeep Wrangler Rubicon that was seen fleeing the scene on surveillance video they were able to gather more of what transpired.
“Throughout the investigation what our detectives found is that there was a confrontation between the suspect and victim in the parking lot,” Sgt. Ryan Anderson, public information officer for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, said in an interview with KTLA.
Family members previously told KTLA Hernandez, who left behind a wife and 4-year-old daughter, was an innocent bystander who was struck by a stray bullet.
But Anderson, who said he could not provide anymore details, said there was “definitely a confrontation that happened in that parking lot.”
Deputies have said that there was no evidence that indicated Hernandez was a patron of the club.
Instead his family said Hernandez was on his way home from work when he got a call from his friend, who lives across the street from the nightclub’s parking lot, asking for a ride home.
After he was shot at, Hernandez was driven to the hospital by his friend who was also in the car at the time of the shooting.
He was later pronounced dead.
During the course of the investigation, detectives served several search warrants coinciding with the arrests of PerezOrtiz and Aguirre throughout the Southern California and seized more than 30 firearms and seven pounds of methamphetamine.
The investigation is continuing.
No other information was released.