Suspect in Attack That Left Teacher Dead Surrenders

A Duarte man sought in the slaying of a vocational school teacher during a shooting rampage that left two others wounded surrendered Monday, 12 days after escaping from jail in Mexico where he was to be tried, authorities said.

Accompanied by his attorney, Martin Anthony Meza surrendered at the West Covina police station just after 3 p.m. and was booked for investigation of murder and attempted murder, police said. He was jailed without bail.

Meza, 24, has been charged in warrants with fatally shooting popular teacher Carolyn Vasquez, 36, and wounding a student and a counselor at North-West College of Medical and Dental Assistants in West Covina on Aug. 16.

Police said Meza went to the campus where his girlfriend, Lisa Villela, 19, was enrolled, intent on attacking Robin Stanford, a male counselor who had advised Villela on how to seek help for beatings police and neighbors said Meza inflicted on her.

After shooting and killing Vasquez, Meza shot and wounded Stanford and Ronald Lee, 17, a student from Rosemead, and fled in a car allegedly driven by Villela, police said.

Investigators initially thought that Meza, a reputed gang member known as “Chief” in Duarte, had kidnaped Villela, who was pregnant with her third child. But police later learned that the couple had been seen en route to Mexico and Villela did not seem to be under duress. They were arrested in Mexicali on Aug. 20.

Villela was turned over to West Covina detectives, but Meza, a Mexican citizen, was held for trial in the border city.

Mexican authorities said Meza claimed he shot Stanford because Villela had told him the counselor had sexually assaulted her. Investigators said Villela later denied that an assault took place, and authorities said they are convinced that Stanford had nothing more than a professional student-teacher connection with Villela.

On Dec. 5, Meza and another inmate used a small shovel to tunnel 30 yards under the wall of the Mexicali State Jail, police said. The second inmate was captured the next day.

Meza refused to say where or how he spent the time since his escape, police said.

Villela has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and attempted murder. Trial is scheduled to begin next month.