Gang member gets life in prison without parole for killing rival, wounding rival’s son

A Fresno gang member was sentenced Thursday to life in prison without the possibility of parole for killing a rival and wounding the rival’s son on New Year’s Day 2014 – a daytime shooting that the prosecutor said was done to promote his criminal street gang.

In September, a Fresno County Superior Court jury found Jessie Aguilar guilty of murder, attempted murder and being a felon in possession of a handgun.

During the trial, prosecutor Elana Landau said Aguilar, 43, killed Frank Zapata, 59, and wounded Frank Zapata Jr., 36, outside a drug dealer’s home in southeast Fresno to avenge the killing of one of Aguilar’s associates.

Landau said Aguilar was a member of the Calwa Varrio Locos, a subset of the Bulldogs street gang. The Zapatas were associated with the Bond Street Bulldogs gang. The victims were shot around 11:40 a.m. Jan. 1, 2014, outside a home on Mono Avenue near First Street and Ventura Avenue.

Key evidence came from the Mono Avenue home’s surveillance video cameras. The videos did not capture the shooting, but moments after gunfire erupted, Landau said a video shows Aguilar holding a gun and running toward a van that had dropped off the two victims.

However, Fresno attorney Eric Green, who defended Aguilar, said the video evidence was not clear enough to prove it was Aguilar holding a gun. He also said there was no ballistic evidence to prove Aguilar did the shooting.

This story was originally published November 30, 2017 at 1:27 PM with the headline "Gang member gets life in prison without parole for killing rival, wounding rival’s son."