Norteno gang member sentenced to life in prison for 2015 Salinas murder

A Monterey County judge sentenced Charles “Trigger” Gutierrez to 50 years to life for the murder of 22-year-old Eliot Serna, who was visiting the United States from Mexico.

On May 28, a jury convicted Gutierrez of first-degree murder for the benefit of the Norteno street gang, Salinas East Market, with an enhancement for personal use of a gun. He was also sentenced to four more years in prison for a December 2017 attack in the Monterey County Jail.

The murder happened on Aug. 7, 2015. Serna was visiting family in Salinas from Mexico, and that night he and his two cousins left his aunt’s home in the Rancho Salinas complex to get tacos. Serna was in the passenger seat of his aunt’s Honda Civic while his adult cousin drove and his 10-year-old cousin sat behind them on the passenger side.

As the three were leaving the complex, they came upon a group of men outside what investigators say was a known Norteno home in the complex that belonged to Gutierrez’s family members. Many of the men there were suspected of being active Norteno gang members and were Gutierrez’s family members. Investigators said the men were celebrating the life of a fellow gang member who had been murdered.

The group thought Serna’s cousin in the driver’s seat was a rival gang member, so multiple men approached the vehicle with guns. Gutierrez went to the passenger side and questioned Serna and his cousins about their gang affiliation. He fired at least three rounds into the vehicle, and one of the rounds hit Serna in the arm and torso.

Serna’s cousin sped up and drove to the hospital immediately, but Serna died shortly after. A witness identified Gutierrez as the shooter, and investigators said fingerprint evidence confirmed that.

Gutierrez was also involved in an incident at the Monterey County Jail. On Dec. 17, 2019. Gutierrez and other inmates in the gang housing unit followed another inmate up the stairs in the housing unit and attacked him from behind. Investigators said the attack continued in various parts of the housing unit. The victim briefly got away, but then Gutierrez approached him again and continued the attack until deputies were able to stop it.

The District Attorney’s Office said that when Gutierrez appeared at his sentencing, he had a large, gang-related tattoo across the back of his head that he did not have at the time of his verdict in May. He did not make any statements, but members of Serna’s family traveled from Mexico to hear the judge hand down the life sentence.