Teen-Ager Guilty in Freeway Death; 2 Others Acquitted

An Encanto gang member was convicted of first-degree murder Monday in the shooting death of a freeway motorist killed with a shotgun blast while the victim’s horrified father looked on.

After deliberating for about three days, a Superior Court jury convicted Edward Estrada, 19, in the Aug. 29, 1990, shooting of 19-year-old Richard Gill.

The same panel also acquitted Estrada’s brother, 20-year-old Ramon, and a friend, 24-year-old David Soliz. Prosecutors had sought convictions for the two, who are also gang members, based on testimony that they encouraged Edward Estrada to fire his gun at the victim’s pickup truck while the father was following in his own vehicle.

A large contingent of Gill family members clapped when the first verdict was read, but then became silent as the clerk announced that Ramon Estrada and Soliz were not guilty.

“I thought all three of them were guilty,” said Solomon Santos Gill, the victim’s father. “They were all part of it.”

Even though he was juvenile at the time of the slaying, Edward Estrada faces a 30-years-to-life sentence during a hearing Jan. 13.

Evidence during the trial showed that the trio became involved in a confrontation with Gill at a stoplight on 40th Street. While it is unclear how it started, the three gang members flashed gang signs at Gill, who used his middle finger to signal to the other car.

While all three yelled to chase the car, Ramon Estrada’s girlfriend drove her vehicle alongside Gill’s truck. The driver, Pamela Casey, 18, testified against the three in exchange for immunity from prosecution.

Edward Estrada fired two times as the cars were southbound on Interstate 805. The second shot hit Gill in the head.

As the car with the gunman drove away, Gill’s father drove up to the pickup truck, which had careened into the center divider. He took his son to the hospital, where he died several hours later.