Chick-Fil-A shooting trial begins with testimony from victim’s parents
(ABC 6 News) – The trial for a man accused of shooting Osbel Ornelas Jr. in a Chick-Fil-A parking lot began with opening statements and testimony from the victim’s parents Tuesday, July 30.
The trial, according to Tuesday’s opening statements, will require jurors to consider the motive and intent of Isaac Gutierrez when he shot Ornelas during a fist fight.
Gutierrez, 20, faces the following charges: 2nd-degree murder–with intent, not premeditated; 2nd-degree murder–without intent, while committing a felony; and 2nd-degree assault with a dangerous weapon.
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According to Gutierrez’s charging documents, he and his brother, 27-year-old Jose Gutierrez-Ojeda, encountered Ornelas during a road rage incident while parking.
According to court documents, Gutierrez-Ojeda and Ornelas fought, Gutierrez-Ojeda showed Ornelas he had a gun at one point. Cell phone video later allegedly showed Gutierrez emerging from the passenger seat and shooting Ornelas in the head.
According to attorney Andrew Letourneau, representing the state, video of the Chick-Fil-A parking lot fight would prove Isaac Gutierrez exited his brother’s truck, gun in hand, and shot Osbel Ornelas at point-blank range then threatened another man with the firearm.
“Osbel Ornelas is dead because Mr. Gutierrez decided to bring a gun to a fistfight,” Letourneau said. Attorney Eric Newmark, representing Gutierrez, said many of the facts of the case — the road rage, the fist fight, and the shooting — are not in question.
However, Newmark said Gutierrez left the car with the intent of defending his brother in a two-on-one fight — and had only intended to use the gun as a bludgeoning weapon.
“My client observed what was going on — which was two people punching, hitting his brother,” he said. “(Isaac) was not looking for a fight — he stayed in the vehicle, then he came out to defend his brother.”
Thus, he argued the state cannot prove intent to murder or that Gutierrez hadn’t reasonably planned to defend himself.
Testimony from the Ornelas family
Osbel Ornelas Sr., the first witness called to the stand, described his son as an “outdoor kid” who “always wanted to be out in nature.
Ornelas Jr., age 24, was the eldest of six Ornelas children. Friends and family filled about half of the courtroom for the first day of the trial.
Haltingly, Ornelas Sr. described the last time he saw his son — an hour or two before the shooting, when they discussed plans to watch the Superbowl after his work shift.
“He said he’d have everything ready for me,” Ornelas Sr. said. “And I told him I loved him, and I went to work.”
The state then called Belinda Ornelas, the mother — who was in the car with Ornelas Jr. after a shift at Saver’s and saw the shooting.
She recounted the steps that led there — a parking dispute that escalated when Jose Gutierrez-Ojeda and Ornelas Jr. got out of their cars, and Gutierrez-Ojeda allegedly brandished a gun and she attempted to talk things down.
“I said ‘Please –‘ I put my hand out to him and said ‘Please, we don’t have to do this — my daughter’s in the back,'” Belinda Ornelas said.
Gutierrez-Ojeda returned the gun to his truck, but told her “I still want a piece of him” and threw a punch, she added.
Belinda Ornelas lost track of the fight as it moved toward the corner of the lot, but got out of the car when she saw Isaac Gutierrez exit the truck, gun in hand, she told state attorney Alan Debolt.
“He shot my son in the head when he turned around,” she said. “I ran to him.”
Gutierrez’s trial continues Wednesday, July 31. Jose Gutierrez-Ojeda is scheduled to appear for an omnibus hearing on assault and aiding an offender charges Aug. 21 — but a trial has not been scheduled.
The family of Osbel Ornelas created a fundraiser in February to help with funeral and memorial costs.