A Santa Rosa man faces life in prison when he is sentenced for a May 2022 shooting that left a man with a gunshot wound to his neck.
A jury convicted Jose Figueroa Baltazar Thursday in Sonoma County Superior Court of attempted murder, shooting at an occupied vehicle, assault with a semiautomatic gun, unlawful firearm activity and possessing ammunition.
He’ll be sentenced July 29, according to the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office.
The shooting occurred about 11:15 p.m. on May 22, 2022 in the 1700 block of Greeneich Avenue in Santa Rosa, where police found a 27-year-old victim.
He was lying face down and partially on a sidewalk with a “large amount of blood” underneath him, prosecutors wrote in a trial brief filed March 13 before proceedings began March 22.
Paramedics took him to Providence Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital for treatment.
A sergeant interviewed the victim at the hospital and he identified Figueroa Baltazar as the shooter.
According to the trial brief, a home security camera filmed Figueroa Baltazar driving a Ford Expedition with the victim and a second passenger on Greeneich.
He threatened to shoot the victim if he didn’t get out of the SUV as the front passenger urged Figueroa Baltazar to calm down.
Figueroa Baltazar instead got out of the SUV, pointed his gun at the rear passenger and fired one round.
“He briefly walks toward the driver’s seat and then returns to the rear seat and pulls a motionless victim out of the back seat and lets his lifeless body fall to the asphalt, his head striking the pavement can be heard on the surveillance,” prosecutors wrote in the trial brief.
The front passenger got out of the SUV and Figueroa Baltazar drove away, running over the motionless victim’s feet in the process.
Police got to the scene after receiving multiple 911 calls reporting shouting and gunfire on Greeneich.
A Santa Rosa police officer was searching the area when he spotted the Ford near Marlow Road and Yuma Street, just under a mile north of Greeneich.
It matched the description of a red SUV witnesses saw in the area of Apple Valley and West Steele lanes, where gunfire was reported about 7 p.m. May 22.
The officer stopped Figueroa Baltazar on Papago Court and he ran from the SUV, according to the trial brief. He tried to climb over a nearby home’s side gate before surrendering.
During an interview with police, Figueroa Baltazar verified he was involved in the gunfire on Apple Valley Lane.
He claimed the Greeneich shooting happened because he and the victim were drunk and got into an argument, according to the trial brief.
He claimed he disposed of the gun that night near a Jack in the Box restaurant. The day after the shooting, a passerby found it and called police.
You can reach Staff Writer Colin Atagi at colin.atagi@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @colin_atagi.
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