Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
A melee that erupted Tuesday night at a Merced FoodMaxx took an unusual turn after a member of the City Council pulled a gun on some suspects who were involved in a fight.
At 9:38 p.m. officers were dispatched to the 1300 W. Olive Avenue store for a report of multiple subjects fighting and a report of shots fired.
According to a police news release, Armando Oritz, 19, and Matthew Tijerina, 21, waited outside the store for a 19-year-old man to exit, along with two unknown suspects.
After that person walked outside the store, police said the four suspects began assaulting the man, and the fight ended up going inside store.
Meanwhile, City Councilmember Fernando Echevarria, who said he is a former law enforcement officer, was with his wife at the store at the time of the incident.
Echevarria told the Sun-Star he was in the pet food area with his wife when he heard the commotion, which involved people hitting each other, screaming, yelling and breaking glass.
He ran to the front of the store and saw the melee, which he described as an “all out brawl.” Echevarria said there appeared to be four different fights all happening at the same time. All told, he said there were between four and seven people involved in the fracas, which lasted about five to seven minutes.
All of those involved in the fight were males, with the exception of one female, Echevarra said.
The fight participants blocked the entrance and exit to the store, Echevarria said. At one point, he said one of the individuals ran outside and made a comment about going to “get my piece” and made threats to shoot people inside the store.
Echevarria said he saw this as his only chance to get out the door. He told his wife to stay back as he ran out to his car and retrieved a Smith & Wesson 9 mm semi-automatic handgun from the trunk of his vehicle.
He described taking a stance holding people involved in the brawl at gunpoint, including the person he claimed made the threats and was reaching in his pants when he returned from the parking lot.
Echevarria said he ordered everybody to the ground, and four of the people he held at gunpoint dispersed quickly and left. “Because I was involved in law enforcement, it was my top priority to make sure nothing was going to happen to the public,” Echevarria said.
“I ordered everyone back, I thought he had a firearm, he could have — better to be safe than sorry.”
Echevarria said he ordered all citizens and staff to the back of the store with the majority of them complying as his wife Maribel Romero also tried to get people to the back of the store.
During the incident, he said the individual who had been making the threats tore up registers and other items. Echevarria said he ordered that person to exit, but he did not leave. “We didn’t know if it was a robbery”, he said.
The confrontation ended when police, firefighters and ambulance personnel arrived on scene, Echevarria said.
Police confirm councilman pulled gun on suspects
Echevarria said he did not want the person making the threats to enter the store saying he probably would have shot him on sight if he had a weapon, but the suspect did not. “My first instinct was to protect my wife and the public,” he said.
Once law enforcement arrived on scene, Echevarria said he surrendered his weapon and identified himself to the first officer he saw that wasn’t chasing after a suspect.
“We are not to tolerate such behavior,” said Echevarria clarifying that he was speaking as a City of Merced resident and not as a City Councilmember. “We are a civilized society and city,” he said. “We need to respect the laws—we need to not have fear when we go to a grocery store.”
Merced Police Capt. Jay Struble said police cannot confirm or deny the threats one of the suspects made, saying Echevarria has been the only one who mentioned that alleged threat.
However, Struble did confirm Echevarria held suspects at gunpoint with a legal, registered firearm prior to law enforcement arrival. “Right now we’re still looking into the investigation side of this to find out if his actions were appropriate,” Struble said.
The assault caused more than $1,000 worth of damage to store property. The 19-year-old victim, who was no longer at the location when police arrived, was later located at a local hospital, police said.
Police said the victim was “somewhat uncooperative” about the suspects that were involved in the assault.
An investigation revealed that no shots were fired during the incident and both Tijerina and Ortiz were booked into the Merced County Jail on suspicion of vandalism, according to police.
The case remains under investigation.
Merced police ask anyone with information regarding the incident to contact Officer B. Wilkins at 209-388-7825 or by email at wilkinsb@cityofmerced.org.
FoodMaxx located at 1300 W. Olive Avenue in Merced, Calif., on Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2020. Andrew Kuhn akuhn@mercedsun-star.com
https://www.mercedsunstar.com/news/local/crime/article245962380.html