Two men sentenced for life without the possibility of parole; Monterey County DA’s Office
SALINAS, Calif. (KION-TV) -- The Monterey County DA's office said that two men, 26-year-old Abel Perez of Salinas and 21-year-old Ivan Barriga, were sentenced to life without the possibility of parole Thursday.
The sentencing was the result of three-week trial that ended with Perez and Barriga being convicted of conspiracy to commit murder, murder, attempted murder, assault with a semi-automatic firearm, assault with a machine gun, shooting at an occupied dwelling along with many other firearm possession offenses, according to the DA's Office.
"The jury also returned true findings on two special circumstances that alleged Perez and Barriga committed murder by means of lying in wait and in furtherance of a criminal street gang," said the DA's Office.
According to the DA's Office, during the morning of May 20, 2023, Christian Jimenez and another man worked on Jimenez’ new car in the parking lot of his Garner Ave. apartment when around 10 a.m. Perez and Barriga--both members of Salinas Acosta Plaza (SAP), a Salinas-based faction of the Norteno criminal street gang--drove past the two victims.
They went to Barriga’s nearby apartment planned a shooting that targeted Jimenez and the other man, despite that later not having any gang affiliation, according to officials.
After driving past Jimenez' apartment a couple more time, police say that Perez and Barriga finally parked around and then walked towards the apartment while the victims sat in Jimenez’ car.
According to the DA's Office, Perez fired 25 rounds with a machine gun with an additional eight rounds fired by other means.
"Their gunfire killed Mr. Jimenez, struck Doe, and struck several occupied apartments," said the DA's Office. "One errant round struck and paralyzed a nearby resident, Jane Doe, while she made breakfast for her children."
Officials say that after the shooting, Perez and Barriga ran to a nearby apartment complex where Perez placed his firearm in an electric box and Barriga threw a hat in a garbage can.
Officers were able to locate these items and through DNA testing on the hat, found it was owned by Barriga’s.
