Accused Gunman Faces Weapons Charges In Separate Case

An ex-con accused of gunning down a grandmother at a Cathedral City house party has a separate case pending that will be the subject of an upcoming preliminary hearing, a judge decided today.

Gabriel Cuevas Cardoza is accused of killing 52-year-old Mary Ellen Rodriguez and wounding two others after being turned away from an April 2 private party in the 30400 block of San Antonio Drive.

The 31-year-old Cardoza was free on $100,000 bail at the time, facing more than a dozen felony charges, mostly relating to drugs and illegal gun possession.

Riverside County Superior Court Judge Thomas Douglass set a preliminary hearing for June 14 in the weapons case, despite Deputy District Attorney Gypsy Yaeger’s desire to litigate the murder case first.

The hearing will determine whether there’s sufficient evidence to warrant a trial.

Questions remain about who will represent the defendant in which case.

Attorney Geoffrey Yaryan is Cardoza’s counsel in the firearms case, but the ex-con has been appointed a deputy public defender in the Cathedral City shooting case.

While Yaryan and Cardoza sort out whether the former will be retained in the murder case, Yaeger is trying to move proceedings along.

“Our intention is to go with the heavy count. It takes over everything,” the prosecutor said. “But I can’t wait for Mr. Yaryan to determine if he wants to represent Mr. Cardoza in the (other) matter.”

Yaryan did not immediately return calls for comment.

Cardoza, now being held in lieu of $1 million bail, is facing a first- degree murder charge and two counts of attempted murder in connection with the April 2 attack.

Cathedral City police allege the defendant showed up, uninvited, to his neighbor’s residence in the Dream Homes housing project, and when he was turned away, opened fire with a handgun, hitting Rodriguez and two men near her. The mother of nine and grandmother of 11 died at the scene.

While walking back to his home, Cardoza met his older brother, Guillermo Cardoza, and the pair headed north on San Antonio, tailed by two partygoers in a white car, said Lt. Charles Robinson.

The driver intentionally plowed into the brothers, and then both occupants of the vehicle opened fire. Guillermo Cardoza, 34, died at the scene.

No suspects have been arrested.

The earlier charges against Gabriel Cardoza stem from two separate police searches of his mother’s home in Cathedral City, in which firearms and illegal drugs allegedly were found.

Cardoza was initially scheduled for an April 26 preliminary hearing on those charges, but the date was vacated because he couldn’t leave the hospital.

The defendant has three prior felony convictions, including one from 2000 for being an accessory to attempted murder, according to court records.