2 Held for Trial in Fatal Drive-By Shooting at Reseda Restaurant
VAN NUYS — Two alleged gang members were held for trial Wednesday in connection with a drive-by shooting at a Reseda Popeye’s Chicken restaurant during which a 16-year-old customer was killed and three others wounded.
Municipal Judge Leslie A. Dunn ordered the alleged driver and gunman, Daniel Mejia, 22, of Encino, held on a charge of murder and five charges of attempted murder in the death of Samuel Barrios of Reseda.
Also bound over for trial after a preliminary hearing was Freddy Gonzalez, 22, who is charged with hiding a gun that was not used in the September attack.
A preliminary hearing for Ivan Roldan, 20, a suspected accomplice in the shooting, will continue on March 20.
Detectives say Mejia and his passengers were seeking revenge on a rival gang for an earlier confrontation, and committed another drive-by attack earlier that night. None of the Popeye’s victims was a gang member.
“They were just sitting there, eating,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Laura Baird said, “and then they were shot.”
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