Car shooters await punishment

Three men pleaded guilty Oct. 17 to two counts of felony vandalism in shooting BBs at parked car windows and felony assault of a man who was wounded in the shoulder with BBs in Chula Vista.

Hector Cordova, who turns 20 on Friday, Alan Ignacio Casanova, 19, and Arturo Martinez, 21, will all be sentenced Nov. 14 by Chula Vista Superior Court Judge Theodore Weathers.

Deputy District Attorney Steven Schott said the maximum sentence is five years and four months in state prison. They could also be placed on probation with a year or less in county jail.

There are more than 100 cars whose windows were shot out in August and September. Scott said the initial damage estimate was $25,000, but that figure is expected to rise.

The man who was hit with BBs around midnight on Sept. 27 on East Prospect did not have to go to a hospital.

Two suspects were arrested by Chula Vista police on Oct. 6 and a third was apprehended Oct. 9. Another suspect who was questioned was released after police determined he wasn’t involved.

Cordova and Casanova, both of Chula Vista, remain in jail while Martinez, of San Diego, is free on a supervised own-recognizance release.