Man convicted of murder in shooting death outside gas station
A man who shot and killed another man outside an ampm gas station two years ago was found guilty Thursday of first-degree murder and possessing a firearm as a felon.
Andrew Barraza got into a “verbal confrontation” with Javier Rodriguez when at an ampm on the corner of Brundage Lane and South H Street, the Kern County District Attorney’s Office wrote in a news release. That’s when the two stepped outside to fight on March 10, 2020, around midnight.
However, Barraza fired three shots at Rodriguez and killed him. Rodriguez was shot in the chest and died at the scene.
Jurors will return Monday for another hearing during which a sentencing hearing will be set.
A Bakersfield man was booked into jail on suspi
cion of murder Friday in the stabbing death of a man outside a hotel room.
Bakersfield Police officers went to the 500 block of Union Avenue and found a deceased man outside a hotel. David Nutt, 51, was arrested on suspicion of murder soon after.
The investigation is ongoing and anyone with information is asked to call BPD at 661-327-7111.
The Kern County coroner’s office on Friday identified a
45-year-old motorcyclist who died after a vehicle hit him on Rosedale Highway.
Steven McKeen, of Bakersfield, was riding his motorcycle at the intersection of Rosedale Highway and Jet Way on April 26 when he was hit at 10:35 a.m. He died at the scene.
The Kern County coroner’s office identified a 23-year
old Bakersfield driver who died in a three-vehicle collision on Union Avenue.
Brandon Jeremy Latronica Jr. died May 18 at Kern Medical after he was taken there from Union Avenue and East 18th Street. He was in the collision at 10:04 a.m. and died at 2:43 p.m. that same day.
The Bakersfield Police Department noted it was still investigating this incident. The occupants of the other involved cars had complaints of pain and minor injuries, BPD added.
It’s unknown if drugs or alcohol were contributing factors to this crash, BPD added.
The Kern County coroner’s office identified a man who
died in a Rosamond collision as Dustin Todd Raisch.
The 43-year-old Rosamond man died at 1:36 p.m. April 27 at the intersection of 100th Street West and Rosamond Boulevard.
Raisch was a driver in a vehicle involved in a collision with another vehicle, the coroner reported.
A man is cooperating with police after he struck and
killed a pedestrian walking outside a crosswalk on Hageman Road, according to the Bakersfield Police Department.
Officers went Friday to Hageman Road and Mohawk Street and found a man dead in the street. The driver was going west on Hageman when he hit a pedestrian crossing the road outside a crosswalk. Alcohol, drugs or speed weren’t factors in the collision, police reported, while noting the investigation is ongoing.
The driver wasn’t injured and the pedestrian’s identity hasn’t been released.
A Ridgecrest man was convicted Wednesday of
murdering his wife and then setting their home on fire, according to the Kern County District Attorney’s Office.
George Richard Smith killed Vicki Smith, who he had been married to for 36 years, as she lay in bed and then set two fires in their home, the DA’s office wrote in a news release.
Smith was found later that day and arrested after leading police on a chase through a residential Ridgecrest neighborhood while going 80 mph, according to the news release.
Smith testified he was drunk and took sleeping medications so he couldn’t remember what happened, prosecutors wrote.
Jurors convicted him of second-degree murder, arson and recklessly evading a police officer.
Sentencing is scheduled for June 15.
The Kern County coroner’s office identified a 22-year
old Bakersfield man who died after veering off of Interstate 5.
Fernando Rene Portal Rico was driving May 10 on I-5, north of Stockdale Highway, when he veered off the road, the coroner said. He died at the scene at 5:50 a.m.