BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — A Kern County jury on Thursday found a man guilty of the murder of a 19-year-old man related to a Lamont neighborhood dispute over speeding, the District Attorney’s office said.
Juan Pablo Gonzalez Ambriz, 29, was found guilty of first-degree murder and three counts of premeditated attempted murder with an assault weapon.
The April 26, 2020 shooting left 19-year-old Anthony Moreno dead. Prosecutors said Moreno and several others confronted Ambriz at his home on Fuller Drive because of excessive speed in the neighborhood.
As Moreno and the others left the home in an SUV, prosecutors said Ambriz fired four shots from an illegally modified AR-15, one of them striking Moreno in the back. Moreno was rushed to Kern Medical, but died after arriving.
Deputies later found Ambriz, then 27 years old, in his front yard and asked him where the firearm was, according to prosecutors. Ambriz told them it was in the house and deputies located the loaded AR-15 following a search.
“The use of gun violence in neighborhood disputes cannot be tolerated in a civil society and will be prosecuted and punished to the greatest extent the law will allow,” Kern County District Attorney Cynthia Zimmer said in a statement.
Ambriz is scheduled to be sentenced on May 18 and faces at least 50 years to life in prison.
