Suspect convicted in pizza delivery murder
By Edwin Folven, 10/04/2012
A jury deliberated less than two hours on Sept. 27 before convicting a 19-year-old Los Angeles man of murder, attempted murder and other felony charges in the August 2011 fatal shooting of a pizza deliveryman who was driving home after work.
Deputy District Attorney Amy Ashvanian of the Hardcore Gang Division said Jose Beltran, 19, faces numerous life terms in state prison for the killing and other crimes. Sentencing was scheduled for Nov. 1.
Juan David Vazquez Loma, 25, was driving himself and two co-workers home on Aug. 7, 2011, when he was shot in the head while in the 1400 block of Silver Lake Blvd. Driving a car, the shooter pulled up alongside the victim’s vehicle, fired and then fled.
Beltran was arrested on an unrelated gun charge by Los Angeles police on Aug. 19 and was linked to the murder. He has remained in custody since.
The jury convicted Beltran of one count of second-degree murder, two counts of attempted murder and one count each of carrying a loaded firearm not registered to him and shooting at an occupied vehicle. The jury found true all the gun allegations involving Beltran’s personal use and discharge of a handgun — a .32-caliber semiautomatic weapon.
The jury, however, found not true allegations that the crimes were connected to street gang activity and that the attempted murders were willful, deliberate and premeditated.
Ashvanian said the co-workers were not wounded when Beltran fired into the victim’s car.
