Photo: Whittier PD / Courtesy
Whittier police considered the shooting of a 19-year-old Hispanic woman a random attack who was kidnapped early Sunday morning and found dead in Riverside County.
The body of Andrea Vázquez was found in Moreno Valley, and a 20-year-old man was reported to have been arrested in connection with this incident.
Whittier police reported that One suspect, Gabriel Esparza, 20, who was detained at work, in Lakewood, was being held under arrest..
Authorities seized a weapon believed to have been used during the shootingand Andrea’s vehicle, a white 2013 Toyota Tacoma pickup, was also recovered.
Esparza is in the custody of the authorities. in Whittier Police Department jail without bail charged with alleged kidnapping and murder of Vázquez.
According to the police, the incident can be treated as a random attack.
“At this time, it appears that Andrea Vázquez and her partner were randomly attacked by the suspect in Penn Park,” according to a news release.
The Whittier Police Department said that early Sunday morning, Officers responded to the Penn Park parking lot after a man reported that an armed suspect approached the vehicle in which he was with Vázquez, and fired shots in his direction..
According to relatives of Vázquez, the Hispanic woman was with her boyfriend in the car parked on the sidewalk when a vehicle stopped and a subject fired several shotsreaching to injure Andrea.
According to reports, the boyfriend ran to another couple who were in the park to ask for help.
When the groom returned to the car, Vázquez was not in the place and there was blood on the groundaccording to the police.
Andrea’s sister, Edlyn Vazquez, traced the cell phone signal early Sunday morning to a field off the 10 Freeway in the Moreno Valley area.. At the site they only found more traces of blood, but their relative was not found or the phone.
Family spokesman Moises Castillo, a retired Los Angeles Police Department detective, said the Vázquez family had been notified about the discovery in Moreno Valley of the body of the Hispanic woman.
After a day’s search, authorities found the body of the Hispanic woman in a field of vegetation near Alessandro Boulevard and Merwin Street, in Moreno Valley.
Whittier police said this Wednesday they will present the case to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office to present possible charges.
No further details on this case have been provided so far.
Andrea Vázquez was a fashion design student at Fullerton College and worked at a shopping center in Cerritos.
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