Page 16 - IAV Digital Magazine #532

iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine
CaliforniaMotherArrestedForUsing$4.9MPolice ShootingSettlementToPurchaseGunsForSon'sGang
Earlier this year, Christina Lopez received an almost $5 million settlement after the police killed her son in 2017. Now she’s been arrested for allegedly buying guns for her son and the California gang he was a part of.
The Fresno County Sheriff’s
Office revealed they’v e been after the Calwa gang for a few months now, after one of them murdered someone back in July. What started as detectives at the crime scene where a 52-year-old man was shot and killed, turned into identifying a stolen video and sur- veillance video of potential suspects.
Police were able to take that information to arrest 18-year-old Richard Aguilar of Fresno, California. A SWAT team had to breach Aguilar’s home because he barricaded himself inside, but he ended up surrendering.
According to CBS, the murder of the 52- year-old man was a
hit job ordered by a murder convict serv- ing a life sentence at the Salinas Valley State Prison.
Authorities managed to make a total of 14 arrests and seized 12 different firearms as a result of cracking down on the Calwa gang, including a gang member’s moth- er for supplying guns.
In April of this year, the city of
Fresno paid 42-year-
old Christina Lopez $4.9 million USD for the death of her son Isiah Murrietta- Golding in 2017. He was 16 when he died.
Separate from the gang members, 42- year-old Christina Lopez faces felony charges of conspiracy to provide firearms to a minor for the benefit of a street gang, con- spiracy to provide a firearm to a gang member, and child endangerment.
Fresno County
District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp said Christina Lopez was buying guns for her 14-year-old son. Lopez’s defense attor- ney says she can account for all the purchases from set- tlement money.
"She has continued now to take the money from her set- tlement that she received from the city of Fresno to buy a
home where she lives in addition to spend- ing thousands of dol- lars on guns that she has in turn given to her 14-year-old son," they allege.
Christina Lopez’s son was reportedly wrapped up in the gang’s activity involv- ing the July murder. Authorities say he gave the other mem- bers of the Calwa gang the firearms his mother bought for him.
iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine