Valley Shooting Rampage Suspect Pleads Not Guilty To 4 Counts Of Capital Murder
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — Capital murder charges were filed Monday against a man who police say went on a shooting rampage through the San Fernando Valley, killing 4 people, including his own father and brother.
Gerry Dean Zaragoza, 26, was charged Monday with four counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder and one count of attempted robbery. A special circumstance allegation of multiple murders makes Zaragoza eligible for the death penalty, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
Zaragoza made his first court appearance and pleaded not guilty to the charges. A judge would not allow cameras to show the suspect's face in court.
No bail was set. A court date was set for Sept. 3.
The criminal complaint accuses Zaragoza of fatally shooting his 56-year-old father, Carlos Ignacio Zaragoza, and his 33-year-old brother, Carlos Pierre Zaragoza, at their home in the 21900 block of Roscoe Boulevard in Canoga Park. Prosecutors say he also shot his mother in the hand.
He then went to North Hollywood where he killed a former girlfriend, 45-year-old Azucena "Susie" Lepe-Ayala, at a gas station near the Burbank Airport, where a man was also wounded, according to District Attorney's officials.
Zaragoza is also accused of trying to rob a man outside of a Bank of America in Canoga Park several hours after Ayala's murder, and killing 55-year-old Detwonia Harris on board a Metro Orange Line bus that had stopped in Van Nuys.
If convicted as charged, Zaragoza faces a maximum sentence of life in state prison without the possibility of parole or death. Prosecutors say they will decide whether to seek the death penalty at a later date.
