Opinion ID: 844263
Heading Depth: 6
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Eyewitness Carol Mateo

Text: Between 12:40 and 12:45 a.m. on April 14, 1996, Carol Mateo was driving on San Bernardino Road near the intersection with Azusa Avenue. Her brother, Jeremy Robinson, was in the front passenger seat, and her husband, Jose Mateo, was in the backseat. She heard a series of loud popping sounds (more than five and fewer than 12) and slowed down, thinking something was wrong with her car. Robinson then screamed, Oh shit. Look over there at the gas station. That guy's shooting those guys. He pointed towards the gas station. She looked and saw a man shooting two African-American teenagers in the pay phone area of the gas station. She estimated she saw this from a distance of 50 feet, while her car was either at a full stop or barely moving. The shooter, a Hispanic male, about 20 years old, five feet seven to five feet eight inches tall, of medium build, with a very short hairstyle, was standing about four to five feet away from his victims and had his arm extended at shoulder length. She identified the shooter in court as defendant Soliz. Mateo saw both victims fall after they were shot. One of the victims wore a dark blue-and-black checkered flannel shirt. After he fell, he tried to crawl away, but Soliz walked up and shot him again. After Soliz stopped firing, he turned and looked in Mateo's direction for about three to five seconds, and she saw the front of his face. Soliz then turned around and ran to a car parked in the gas station, a beige-colored Honda Accord. Mateo testified that the car in a photograph of Augustin Mejorado's car looked like the car she saw. She also saw defendant Gonzales standing by the car, and identified him in court. At the time of trial, Gonzales had longer hair and was wearing glasses. Mateo testified that Gonzales's appearance in a photograph with short hair was similar to how he looked on the night of the murder. Mateo drove to the Chuck E. Cheese restaurant on Azusa Avenue and called the police from an outside pay phone. As she was doing so, she saw the same car she had seen at the gas station pull in and then go immediately back out of the driveway. She saw defendants in the front seat of the car. When interviewed by investigators, she selected Soliz's photograph out of several shown to her. At defendants' preliminary hearing, she identified Soliz as the shooter.