Case Goes to the Jury in Slaying of Security Guard

Prosecutors portrayed the slaying of a security guard at a Vista bar as a cold-blooded, “execution-style” killing, while defense attorneys depicted it as self-defense, during closing arguments Tuesday in Vista Superior Court.

After three days of testimony from 25 witnesses, Deputy Dist. Atty. Kate Elkin summed up the murder case against Joaquin Carrizoza, 35, of Escondido by telling the jury that Carrizoza shot Mario L. Doran in the temple last October with the intent to kill.

“Doran was shot by Joaquin Carrizoza a foot away from his head. . . . It’s an execution shot,” Elkin told the jurors. “Anybody knows that, when you hold a gun to a person’s head, you shoot to kill.”

The prosecution said that, on Oct. 6, Carrizoza spent several hours at the El Sombrero bar drinking beer and playing pool. He quarreled with his former girlfriend, Antonia Villegas, 35, then pulled out a 9-millimeter semiautomatic handgun and fired at her twice, missing both times, Elkin said. Carrizoza then began to leave.

“Joaquin Carrizoza decided to shoot Toni (Villegas), and do you know what he’s doing all day? He’s drinking to build up his courage,” Elkin told the jury.

After the gunshots, Doran, 30, a security guard employed by the bar, emerged from the back of the establishment and drew his gun, firing several shots while Carrizoza was standing at the doorway, hitting him at least twice and emptying the gun, the prosecutor said.

Carrizoza returned fire and, after wounding Doran, walked up to him and fired a bullet that passed through his head, Elkin said.

Carrizoza is charged with murder and attempted murder. He is being held at County Jail in Vista.

The defense argues that Carrizoza never intended to injure Villegas or kill Doran and that the slaying was accidental and in self-defense.

Public defender John Jimenez pointed out that Carrizoza was no more than a few feet from Villegas when he first fired and that at least two witnesses testified he aimed the gun either down or to the side of Villegas.

Villegas, who worked at the bar, testified that there was no way Carrizoza would have known she would be working there that day, since she had not been employed at the bar for several months, Jimenez told the jury.

“There was a sudden quarrel between the two, and his passions flared. He walked away . . . and he perceives something that makes him believe that she is making fun of him, and he fires those two rounds into the ground,” Jimenez said.

“Now, he is about to leave, he’s done what he wanted to do, he scared his girlfriend,” Jimenez said.

According to the defense, Doran then appeared and fired at Carrizoza, hitting him three times, twice in the legs. Carrizoza was on the ground when he returned fire, hitting Doran in the chest and then shooting him in the head, Jimenez said outside the courtroom.

“Mr. Carrizoza acted very stupidly, acted with little sense in terms of firing a gun (indoors) . . . (but) he acted under the honest and reasonable belief that he was defending himself when he was shot by a security guard,” Jimenez told the jury.

Jurors will begin deliberating today.