Adelanto Shooting Leaves 3 Dead

A 23-year-old mother of four and two others were shot to death inside an apartment complex garage early Friday in what police believe was related to a drug deal gone awry, authorities said.

San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department investigators said they have no suspect, but witnesses reported a man speeding away from the scene shortly after the killings.

Investigators said all three victims had criminal records and that the slayings appeared drug-related, a belief supported by the woman’s next-door neighbors who heard the gunfire about 1:30 a.m.

“I heard the sound of people being thrown against a wall and loud swearing,” said neighbor Carl Miller. “I heard someone say, ‘You need to come up with more money! You owe me more money!’ And then I heard gunshots.”

Miller said after hearing two shots “that vibrated my whole apartment,” he heard the mother yell an expletive. “I heard two more gunshots, and then I heard nothing else,” Miller said.

The mother was identified by neighbors as Katie Espinoza. Dylan Keys, described by neighbors as the 19-year-old boyfriend of one of Espinoza’s friends, also was found dead in the garage, police said. Espinoza suffered a fatal wound to the upper torso, authorities said.

The third victim, 25-year-old Jerald Zvec, known by neighbors as “Animal,” was taken to Victor Valley Community Hospital in Victorville, where he died Friday morning.

Deputies attempted to question him, but he was uncooperative. “He just wanted the deputies to help him,” sheriff’s spokesman Chip Patterson said.

Espinoza’s children -- three boys and one girl ages 2, 3, 5 and 6 -- apparently slept through the shootings, and were later placed in the custody of county child protective services, Patterson said. Neighbors said Espinoza had told them that all four children were autistic, but police could only confirm that two had autism.

Two other adults were in Espinoza’s apartment at the time of the shootings and may have been sleeping. They were unable to provide much information about the slayings, Patterson said.

At least one witness told investigators that a vehicle left Espinoza’s apartment parking space immediately after the gunshots, “and we’re almost positive the killer or killers left the scene right away in that car,” Patterson said.

Investigators were interviewing neighbors, friends and relatives of the victims in an attempt to find a suspect and to establish a motive, Patterson said.

Neighbors said the apartment in the 18600 block of Casaba Road drew heavy traffic on the otherwise quiet street in a working-class neighborhood of the desert town near Victorville.

“I was always thinking it had to be drugs over there,” said neighbor Maria Silva. “There were crowds there, and cars coming and going.”

Charles Lewis, 40, who lived in the same small apartment complex, said many “suspicious characters” came in and out of Espinoza’s apartment, including the tattoo-covered Zvec.

Miller, and his wife, Patricia, said Zvec routinely flashed a Nazi salute around the neighborhood.

Patricia Miller said Espinoza had told her that she had cancer and some mental health problems.

“I feel so bad for [Espinoza’s] kids,” Miller said. “They are the ones who will suffer.”