SANTA MONICA—A notorious gang member was found guilty of the 2006 murders of two young men and 12 other counts of attempted murders on Tuesday, November 12.
Los Angeles Deputy District Attorneys Andrew Cooper and Angie Christides of the Hardcore Gang Division persecuted West Los Angeles gang member, Jose Zapien, for the murders of Eduardo Lopez and Miguel Martin and attempted murders of 12 other people in 2004 and 2006.
One of the victims was 15-year-old high school student, Eduardo “Eddie” Lopez. Zapien and his crew approached and fired gunshots at Lopez and his two companions as they walked along Pico Boulevard and 26th Street the night of February 28, 2006. Lopez, who was a popular football and baseball player at Santa Monica High School, was fatally shot and “gunned down at the prime of his life,” Santa Monica Police Sergeant Jay Moroso stated in a press release.
Later that same year, Zapien fired shots and murdered 22-year-old Miguel Martin, as Martin and his friends walked on the sidewalk in front of Virginia Park on December 27, 2006—just two days after Christmas.
The Santa Monica Police Department teamed up with the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Hardcore Gang Division to piece together evidence from the repeated episodes of gang violence and homicides committed by Zapien.
After a two-week trial and five hour deliberation by the jury, Zapien was convicted of the 2006 murders and attempted murders, in addition to separate attempted murder charges from September 2004 and July and October 2006.
Zapien faces multiple life sentences without parole and is scheduled for sentencing on January 9, 2014.
