SANTA ANA, Calif. – A third-striker criminal street gang member parolee was charged today with special circumstances murder of an innocent bystander father on Father's Day. Jose De Jesus Gomez-Ochoa, 30, Tustin, is charged with one felony count of special circumstances murder for criminal street gang purpose, one felony count of unlawful possession of a firearm, and sentencing enhancements for the personal discharge of a firearm causing death, criminal street gang activity, the personal use of a firearm, and prior strike convictions for participation in a criminal street gang in 2011 and 2012, and criminal street gang member in possession of a firearm in 2012. If convicted, the defendant faces a maximum sentence of life in state prison without parole. The defendant is being held without bail and is scheduled for a continued arraignment on July 15, 2016, at 10:00 a.m. in Department CJ-1, Central Jail, Santa Ana.

At the time of the crime, Gomez-Ochoa was a parolee and is accused of being a member of a criminal street gang.

On June 19, 2016, at approximately 7:10 p.m., Gomez-Ochoa is accused of being at the 1700 block of South Evergreen Street in Santa Ana. A rival criminal street gang member was purchasing something from a parked food truck, which belonged to and was being operated by 52-year-old Eliu Armando Gramajo. Gomez-Ochoa is accused of spotting the rival gang member from a distance, gesturing a gang sign with his hand, aiming his gun at the rival criminal street gang member, and firing his gun. The defendant is accused of missing his intended target and instead shooting Gramajo, an innocent bystander and husband and father of three. Gomez-Ochoa is accused of then fleeing the scene in a vehicle.

Witnesses called 911 and the Santa Ana Police Department (SAPD) responded to the scene. Gramajo was transported to a nearby hospital with a gunshot wound in his upper torso. Instead of spending that evening celebrating Father's Day with his wife and children, Gramajo died at the hospital as a result of the gunshot wound.

SAPD investigated this case and arrested Gomez-Ochoa at his home the next day on June 20, 2016.

Senior Deputy District Attorney Janine Madera of the Gang Unit is prosecuting this case.

Orange County District Attorney / Case # 16CF1629 / June 22, 2016