Two Glendale residents face charges in shooting

A Glendale man and woman pleaded not guilty this week to charges stemming from a shooting on Friday in which a bullet came within a foot of hitting a young woman who was asleep.

Cesar Sanchez Estrada and Griselda Martinez, both 30, were charged Tuesday with possessing methamphetamine for sale and altering the identification of a firearm, which was recovered inside their south Glendale apartment, according to a Los Angeles County Superior Court criminal complaint.

They were also accused of allegedly possessing methamphetamine with a loaded firearm in connection with the shooting.

Glendale police initially arrested Estrada, Martinez and two other people inside their apartment in the 600 block of South Glendale Avenue after the bullet was discovered. But prosecutors only filed charges against Estrada and Martinez, who live across from the apartment where the 20-year-old woman lives with her parents.

Police originally thought the young woman was a teenager.

At about 7:20 a.m. on Friday, the young woman’s parents discovered a bullet hole in a wall of their apartment and immediately notified police about a possible shooting.

When officers arrived, they reportedly found a bullet hole in the front door of the parents’ apartment and another bullet hole in the unit directly across from them, where Estrada and Martinez live.

The bullet appeared to have traveled from Estrada and Martinez’s unit through the parents’ front door and into their apartment.

It stopped inside a dresser drawer near the young woman’s bed, where she had been sleeping.

Soon after, police obtained a warrant to search Estrada and Martinez’s apartment, where they found a 9-milimeter handgun, drugs and packaging material, police said.

Estrada and Martinez are scheduled to appear Dec. 18 in Superior Court in Burbank to set a date for their preliminary hearing, said Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office.

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Follow Veronica Rocha on Google+ and on Twitter: @VeronicaRochaLA.

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