Trial Ordered for Schoolyard Slaying Suspect : Court: Reputed gang member faces murder charge in shooting death last April of Santa Ana man leaving basketball game.

An Orange County judge ordered reputed gang member Uciel T. Murgo to stand trial for murder in the slaying last April of a man who was driving from a Santa Ana schoolyard where he had been playing basketball with his brothers.

Before Municipal Judge Claude E. Whitney bound Murgo over for trial on one count of murder and eight counts of attempted murder, police acknowledged Monday that chemical tests on two passengers in the victim’s van as well as on the victim himself showed that all three had recently fired weapons.

Police say Murgo, 19, has admitted firing a 9-millimeter automatic pistol during the confrontation but contends that he fired only in self-defense.

The passengers in the victim’s van all deny participating in any exchange of gunfire April 15 when Mauro Vergara Meza, 31, was shot to death as he sat behind the wheel. Three passengers were wounded, including two of Meza’s brothers. In part because it happened next to Santa Ana High School, the attack sparked a public outcry, and city officials vowed to become more active in trying to control gang-related violence.

During Murgo’s preliminary hearing, Santa Ana Police Officer Julio Jaramillo testified that two of the passengers in the van took “gunshot residue” tests that showed an “elevated level” of gunpowder residue on their hands. Police also recovered a .32-caliber bullet and two shell casings from a .32-caliber handgun in the parking lot nearby.

“It’s standard operating procedure,” Jaramillo said of the gunshot tests administered to the van occupants.

Murgo, a security guard, was arrested nine days after the shooting by police acting on a tip that he had been involved.

Officer Mark Edward Steen, who works in the Santa Ana Police Department’s gang investigation unit, said that when Murgo first came to police headquarters, he denied having anything to do with the shooting. But after being identified by a witness and refusing to take a lie-detector test, Steen said, Murgo acknowledged being present at the incident.

Steen said Murgo told him that he had gone to Santa Ana High School that Wednesday night to “work out.” Murgo told him that a large group of gang members had gathered there for a gang peace conference. At some point, Murgo told Steen, a van drove by at a high rate of speed and nearly struck some of the gang members.

According to passengers in the van, however, “there hadn’t been any type of problem preceding the shooting,” Jaramillo told the court.

He said that Meza, his brothers and several other relatives had gathered to play a pickup game of basketball on the school’s outdoor courts. Witnesses said that after finishing the game, the group piled back into the van, with Meza behind the wheel, and started to leave, Jaramillo testified. The witnesses said that as the van passed the group of gang members seated on a row of bleachers, they heard a loud bang that seemed to come from the van’s side mirror.

Another passenger told police investigators that Meza stopped the van to see if anything had hit the vehicle. The witness said he then heard some conversation before hearing what he believed was gunfire.

“The passenger said he heard gunshots being fired into the van,” Jaramillo said.

Meza was struck in the head and mouth but still managed to drive the van a short distance to his home on Camille Street before dying.

In his statements to police, Steen said, Murgo said that as he approached the van, he heard what sounded like the cocking of a gun. Steen said that Murgo began firing at the van as he turned and ran back toward the bleachers.

Steen said that Murgo told officers he fired “five to six shots.” But when officers arrived to investigate, they found at least 15 shell casings from a 9-millimeter pistol.

Defense attorney Jack Neil Swickard told the court that Murgo had been shot himself a year earlier and had become paranoid that it might happen again. Swickard reasoned that when Murgo saw the driver of the van apparently reach down behind his seat, he panicked. He also noted that Murgo had heard a clicking sound that sounded like the “sliding sound of metal against metal” from a gun.

But Jaramillo testified that the van passengers have since steadfastly denied that any firearms were inside the vehicle.

According to Steen, Murgo said he threw away the 9-millimeter Glock handgun he used that night, then later said he melted down the gun before getting rid of it.

Murgo, who is being held in the Orange County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail, is scheduled to enter a plea in the case on Aug. 11.