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Crime & Safety

Strong Testimony at Alcala Preliminary Hearing

Family of the victims and law enforcement officers testify at hearing for man accused in a Palm Desert double murder.

A woman testified today that her next-door neighbor gunned down her son while he was visiting her Palm Desert apartment with her 2-year-old granddaughter, who also was fatally wounded.

Juan Carlos Alcala, 44, is charged with murdering Felipe Lozano Jr. and the 24-year-old man's daughter, Doria Zoe Reynoso Lozano, at the Hovley Gardens
Apartments in the 74500 block of 42nd Avenue on April 8, 2011. Alcala is also charged with attempted murder for allegedly firing at Felipe Lozano's mother. 

Afra Lozano, who took the stand at Alcala's preliminary hearing at the
Larson Justice Center, testified that her son and granddaughter had come to her apartment that day for a visit. He took the toddler outside and returned a
short time later, she said.

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"(Felipe) was very scared, he was holding (Doria) very tightly. I
didn't know what was happening. Then I saw Mr. Alcala run after him with a
handgun,'' Lozano said.

She said her son tried to open the garage door, but it was locked, so he
came to the sliding glass door.

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"I opened the sliding glass door, but (Alcala) fired,'' the witness said.

"You mentioned suddenly the glass broke?'' asked Deputy District
Attorney Manny Bustamante.

"Yes, with the impact of the bullet,'' Lozano said.  "Felipe fell ...
with the baby and then the gentleman was firing at me,'' she said.
Bustamante asked the woman -- who suffered gunshot wounds to the thigh
and knee -- if Alcala said anything.

"No, I remember he fired a lot of shots,'' Lozano said.
She said she ran outside with one of her younger sons, who had been
upstairs playing video games.

"When you (left), was Mr. Alcala still inside?'' Bustamante asked.

"He was inside and was firing one shot after another,'' Lozano said.
Under questioning from defense attorney Neil Harrison, Lozano said
Alcala ``would follow us to work, to church, threaten to kill us.''

Later, Harrison asked her if the problems between her family and Alcala
stemmed from his allegations that they could see through the walls what he was doing inside his apartment.

"I didn't have any problems with him, he was the one who came to our
house,'' she said.

"And you called police on Mr. Alcala, right?'' Harrison asked.

"Yes,'' she replied.

"Did anyone indicate that Mr. Alcala had any mental health problems?''
Harrison asked.

"I repeat, we never knew him. I don't think he had mental problems,''
she said.

She said Alcala threatened her and her family several times and would
"tell us to stop making a noise we never made.''

After Harrison's cross-examination, Bustamante asked Lozano if she
recognized a photo of her granddaughter.

"That's my little baby,'' she said, starting to wipe away tears. She
also tearfully identified a photo of her slain son.

Riverside County sheriff's Deputy Nicholas Bazanos testified that a
young man, who appeared to be upset, met him and another deputy at the
apartment complex after the shooting.

"He said his brother was murdered in apartment B5,'' Bazanos said.
Bustamante asked what he saw inside.

"I saw a young female approximately 2 years old laying on her back,''
Bazanos said. "We went to the kitchen and saw a Hispanic male laying on his
back, with several bullet holes in his body.''

Bazanos testified that the deputies later heard that the suspect was in
the unit next door.

"I believe he had called to dispatch and said he wanted to surrender,''
the deputy said.

"Did you observe someone surrendering themselves to law enforcement at
(the next-door) apartment?'' Bustamante asked.

"Yes,'' Bazanos said.

Harrison asked Bazanos if the 2-year-old girl, who was found in the living room, was alive.

"Her body was still moving,'' Bazanos replied.

Harrison asked if the deputies found a weapon in the apartment.

"I don't recall locating any weapons in the apartment, but a magazine
to a gun was in the hallway,'' Bazanos said, adding that he thought it was
empty.

Felipe Lozano died at the scene. His daughter was airlifted to Loma Linda University Medical Center, where she died that night.

Last year, four judges ordered experts to conduct mental health
evaluations of Alcala, according to court records.

Alcala pleaded not guilty by insanity at his arraignment last August. If
convicted and found sane, he faces life in prison without the possibility of
parole.

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