Murder Charge Filed in Death of Mother of 4
A murder charge has been filed against a 20-year-old Arleta man accused of shooting to death a Canoga Park mother of four during a gang fight early Saturday morning, prosecutors said.
Stuardo Saenz was expected to be arraigned in San Fernando Municipal Court today on a charge of murder in the death of Virginia Mexia, 33.
Mexia was shot about 1 a.m. Saturday as rival gangs fought in front of her apartment in the 8700 block of De Soto Avenue, police said.
Saenz had gone to the street to help fellow gang members, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Myron Jenkins. “He gets his gun, runs out and shoots a member of the rival gang in the face,” Jenkins said. Paul Hoy Chou, 22, the injured gang member who was an acquaintance of Mexia’s daughter, ran in the woman’s apartment through an unlocked front door and out the back door, Jenkins said.
Saenz opened fire on the apartment, striking Mexia in the head as she looked out from the dining room window, police said.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
