Crime & Safety
No Death Penalty Sought for Santa Anita Ave. Tire Shop FireBomber
The DA will not seek death for Cheque Tire shop Molotov cocktail attack that killed three last year, they say.
EL MONTE, CA — The district attorney's office announced Tuesday that it will not seek the death penalty against four men charged with a Molotov cocktail attack that killed three young people at a South El Monte tire shop last year.
The decision means Roberto Fuentes, Estevan Castillo and German Monreal, all 21, and Mario Godina Jr., 20, now face a maximum of life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted of the April 25, 2015, killings.
The defendants are each charged with three counts of murder and one count of use of a destructive device. The murder charges include the special circumstance allegations of multiple murders, murder by means of a destructive device and murder during the commission of an arson.
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Destiny Aguirre, 18, of Azusa, Rodrigo Gonzalez, 17, of La Puente, and Christopher Jimenez, 17, of El Monte, died when Molotov cocktails were thrown into Cheque Tires, at 1252 Santa Anita Ave., about 5:30 a.m.
Arriving firefighters found one of the victims trying to get out of the burning building, but he could not be saved.
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A firefighter was treated at a hospital for second-degree burns suffered while trying to rescue the teen and battle the blaze, which took about an hour to extinguish. The other two victims' bodies were subsequently found inside the business.
Friends said Jimenez had celebrated his birthday a day early with a party at the tire shop. He would have turned 18 on April 26.
Sheriff's Lt. Victor Lewandowski said after the arrests that Fuentes was at the tire shop at some point before the attack, but it was unclear if he had attended the birthday party.
Detectives used video surveillance footage to identify the suspect vehicle, which led them to Fuentes, according to a sheriff's spokeswoman.
Fuentes was arrested the day after the fire. Castillo, Monreal and Godina were subsequently taken into custody in Mexico and flown back to Los Angeles.
All four are being held without bail and are due back in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom Jan. 24 for a pretrial hearing.
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