Alleged accomplice in deadly I-10 shooting pleads not guilty
A 19-year-old man who allegedly helped a friend carry out the fatal shooting of a Coachella woman on Interstate 10 pleaded not guilty Wednesday to murder and other felony charges in a potential death penalty case.
Andrew Castro is charged with murder, attempted murder and shooting at an occupied vehicle in the death of 19-year-old Maria Guadalupe Mendoza.
I-10 shooting suspect brought back to Riverside County after being arrested in Mexicali
The victim was allegedly shot by her ex-boyfriend, Damian De Los Santos, 22, of Cathedral City, after he saw her with her new boyfriend in the parking lot of a Cathedral City convenience store on the afternoon of May 8.
De Los Santos pleaded not guilty last week to charges of murder, attempted murder, shooting at an occupied vehicle and being a convicted felon and narcotic addict in possession of a firearm. He is due in court today for a felony settlement conference.
Both men face a special circumstance allegation of discharging a firearm from a motor vehicle with intent to murder. Prosecutors have yet to decide whether to pursue capital punishment.
De Los Santos and Castro will return to the Indio courthouse on June 8 for a felony settlement conference.
According to a declaration in support of an arrest warrant prepared by sheriff’s investigator Steven Paixao, Mendoza was waiting to be picked up by her new boyfriend at the am/pm gas station convenience store at 27900 Date Palm Drive.
When the man arrived, De Los Santos allegedly approached and lifted his shirt, showing the boyfriend a revolver and threatening to kill him. The boyfriend sped away in his car with Mendoza, but De Los Santos and Castro allegedly followed them onto eastbound Interstate 10.
With Castro driving, De Los Santos allegedly fired multiple shots at the boyfriend’s car, including one that passed through Mendoza’s body and lodged in her boyfriend’s leg.
Before she died at a hospital, Mendoza told CHP officers that someone named Damian shot her, Paixao wrote. De Los Santos also sent a Facebook message to the boyfriend afterward, saying he would shoot him too, according to the declaration.
Castro was arrested May 9 after sheriff’s investigators obtained his license plate number by reviewing surveillance footage from the convenience store. Two .44-caliber Remington Magnum shell casings were found inside Castro’s car, consistent with the type of gun described to deputies by Mendoza’s boyfriend, Paixao wrote.
Video: De Los Santos arrested in Mexicali and transported to Riverside County Jail in Indio
De Los Santos was arrested on May 12 in Mexicali by members of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, Coachella Valley Violent Crime Gang Task Force and District Attorney’s Organized Crime Bureau.
Castro has no prior felony convictions in Riverside County. However, De Los Santos has multiple convictions, including first-degree burglary and receiving a stolen vehicle in 2013, as well as second-degree burglary in 2014, according to court records.
