Van Nuys Men Face Stiff Penalties in Restaurant Shooting

Two Van Nuys men face stiff penalties under a new state law that targets gang members and the use of a firearm, after pleading no contest Thursday to a shooting at a Newbury Park restaurant.

Although no one was injured in the April 30 incident, Marcos Garcia, 22, who police say was the shooter, faces up to 19 years in prison for his plea on the charge of assault with a deadly weapon.

His brother, Javier Garcia, 25, faces seven years in prison as an accessory after the fact, for driving the getaway car.

A third man, Melvin Bonilla, 25, was ordered by Judge Edward Brodie to serve 60 days for giving false information--a false name--to a police officer. He was released Thursday for time already served.

The Newbury Park shooting came two days after a shooting that killed 19-year-old Edgar Cruz at the Conejo Creek Condominium complex. Authorities said Salvadoran gang members from Van Nuys pulled up in a car and sprayed the complex with gunfire, killing Cruz and wounding Andres Morales, 18.

Jesus Miranda, 21, of Van Nuys was indicted in the Cruz slaying earlier this month. Carlos Alberto Molina Escobar, 24, was also indicted as an accomplice after the fact.

The two shootings fueled concern about an increase in gang violence in Ventura County, something Deputy Dist. Atty. Kevin Suh said would not be tolerated.

Any attempt by a Los Angeles gang to enter Ventura County is going to be met harshly by his office, Suh said, “and that’s what we did.”

Suh applauded the availability of newly passed Proposition 21 for ensuring the stiff penalties against the Garcias.

“It’s become a very powerful tool for the prosecution,” Suh said. “We want to make sure all these cases get hit pretty hard.”

The Garcias will be sentenced formally July 31.

Their attorney, John Divans, said they pleaded no contest because they worried the district attorney’s office could file harsher charges against them, including attempted murder, if the case lingered.

“They felt that it would be in their best interest to do this today, because other things could have surfaced,” Divans said.

But Divans added that the Garcia brothers and Bonilla said they only fired their weapons in self-defense.

His clients were at the Del Taco restaurant near the complex the weekend of the first shooting, when a group of Cruz’s friends entered, Divans said. Fearing a confrontation, Javier Garcia and Bonilla jumped behind the counter, while Marcos Garcia began firing a handgun.

But prosecutors say the defendants were the attackers, with Marcos Garcia firing on a group of Cruz’s friends as they were on their way to a memorial service for their slain friend.

Police believe the shootings were a culmination of rivalries between Salvadoran gang members living in Van Nuys and Mexican residents at the Conejo Creek complex.

As the defendants entered their pleas Thursday, the wives of the Garcia brothers sobbed from their seats in the courtroom. Divans said Marcos Garcia has three children, and Javier Garcia is the father of two.

Suh said the convictions mark the first time the district attorney’s office has resolved a case using Proposition 21 enhancements since the law was passed by voters in March.

Under the law, gang members who use a firearm are subject to an additional five years in prison. The law also allows for stiffer penalties for several gang-related crimes, including the death penalty for murder and life sentences for drive-by shootings, carjackings, home-invasion robberies and witness intimidation.