Book thrown at Nunez
COMPTON — Two men who allegedly shot at deputies during a pursuit, then took four family members hostage inside a home, were charged with 28 felony counts on Tuesday.
Frank Andrew Morado, 20, and Joele Nunez, 21, pleaded not guilty to the charges on Tuesday in Superior Court, according to the District Attorney’s Office. Both men are being held on $6 million bail each.
Authorities said Nunez is also known as Ector Hugo Sanchez, the last of three suspects accused of murdering Jonathan Hernandez and Hector Bonilla — two Santa Monica residents shot multiple times on March 5, 2005 — during a birthday party held at the Moose Lodge on Ocean Park Boulevard.
Morado and Nunez are being charged with multiple counts of attempted murder on a peace officer, assault on a peace officer, kidnapping, assault with a firearm and false imprisonment of a hostage.
They were placed under arrest shortly before 2 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 26, by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office following a three-hour standoff with police in Compton.
Morado and Nunez surrendered to a Los Angeles County Sheriff Department SWAT team following the standoff, releasing four unharmed individuals who they had allegedly held hostage, according to law enforcement officials.
The incident began at approximately 11 p.m. on Jan. 25, when deputies tried to flag down the two men occupying a vehicle at Aprillia Avenue and Compton Boulevard. The two men allegedly led deputies on a vehicle chase, exchanging gunfire with them during the pursuit. No one was injured in the incident.
The two men abandoned their vehicle and ran into a home in the 600 block of West Cypress Street. There, they allegedly held four occupants hostage until crisis negotiators convinced them to surrender, law enforcement officials said.
In July, the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office filed felony charges and issued arrest warrants for Jose Mojarro, 21, William Vasquez, 25, and Sanchez for the murders of Hernandez and Bonilla.
Until last week, Sanchez was the only remaining suspect still at-large.
Vasquez was arrested in Oct. 6 on the 500 block of Westlake Street in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Police Department and FBI’s Fugitive Task Force had been looking for Vasquez for allegedly murdering a 22-year-old Los Angeles man in 2002, when he was captured during a police sweep of a home suspected of harboring gang members.
Mojarro has been in custody since July 5 for a parole violation related to a battery on emergency personnel, for which he served one and a half years of a two year-term in the Department of Corrections.
Mojarro, also known as “Peanut;” Sanchez, also known as “Enemy;” and Vasquez, also known as “Crook” and “Ugly Cuz,” are all believed to be gang members from Los Angeles, according to the DA’s office.
Guests at the party held on March 5 at the Moose Lodge, 1600 Ocean Park Boulevard, said more than a dozen shots were fired by the suspects after an altercation with Hernandez and Bonilla.
Bonilla, 25, was shot multiple times in his torso and head, while Hernandez, 19, suffered more extensive wounds to his torso, head and buttocks, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Coroner.
Relating to the Moose Lodge killings, each of the suspects faces two counts of murder, with special allegations of gang enhancements and use of firearms during a gang crime, and a third count of assault with a deadly weapon. If convicted, the three men each face life sentences without parole or the death penalty.
Both Mojarro and Vasquez have pleaded not guilty to the charges during an arraignment in Los Angeles Superior Court. They are scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 28 to set a date for their preliminary hearing, at which time attorneys would present evidence so a judge may determine if the case warrants a trial.
Neither “Nunez” nor “Sanchez” have prior convictions in Los Angeles County, according to the Superior Court.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 3, 2006. Read the original PDF.