Defendant in Tucker slaying admits fight with a rival gang member

alleged Sureno gang member who told a California Highway Patrol investigator he fatally shot Vallejo musician Dewey Tucker on Interstate Highway 80 in 2010 also admitted fighting a rival gang member who was found stabbed to death in a Santa Rosa schoolyard in January.
Raul Vega, 19, who is charged with both murders, said he and Juan Carlos Angel-Esparza, 20, fought at the Kawana Springs elementary school on Jan. 8, Santa Rosa police detective Bryan Reynolds testified Friday at a preliminary hearing in Sonoma County Superior Court.

On Thursday, CHP violent crimes detective William Harm testified Vega admitted he shot Tucker from the passenger seat of a stolen Honda as Tucker drove by in a white Nissan on westbound I-80 near the Carquinez Bridge on Jan. 12, 2010.

Vega and three co-defendants went to the Vallejo apartment complex where Tucker lived looking for a rival gang member, according to the Sonoma County District Attorney's Office.

When Tucker drove quickly past the defendants in his Nissan, Vega and 20-year-old Javier Juan Carreon-Lopez pursued him in the stolen Honda, believing he was the rival gang member, Harm testified.

The other defendants, Hector Barragan and Christopher Mancinas, both 29, followed the Honda in a separate vehicle, Harm testified.

Vega said he turned sideways in the passenger seat of a stolen Honda, pointed the gun at the door of Tucker's white Nissan in the next lane and fired three to five times, Harm said.

Vega said he had both hands on the gun and pulled the trigger with two fingers, Harm said.
Tucker was shot in the head. His Nissan collided with the concrete center median, then with the right guardrail on westbound Interstate 80 near Hercules.

Harm said Vega told him he learned the next day that he had mistakenly shot Tucker, whom neither he nor his co-defendants knew.

Tucker, 24, who played bass for Lauryn Hill and Bobby Brown, was on his way to a music session that night, according to testimony during the hearing.

Reynolds testified today that Vega reluctantly admitted on Jan. 10 that he fought Angel-Esparza at the school south of Santa Rosa.

Vega claimed Angel-Esparza, an alleged rival gang member from the Varrio Sureno Locos set of the Sureno gang, confronted him about his gang affiliation, Reynolds said.

Vega said he identified himself as a member of the Angelino Heights sect, "and the fight was on," Reynolds said.

Vega claimed Angel-Esparza withdrew two knives during the fistfight, Reynolds testified. Vega said during a struggle for one knife, the blade broke off, Reynolds testified.

The blade was found near Angel-Esparza's body and the other knife was found on a rooftop at the school, Reynolds said.

Angel-Esparza was found in an outdoor hallway with a stab wound in the upper left chest and two in the right abdomen. He died at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital.

Reynolds said Vega told him he was defending himself and that he burned his clothing in his back yard after the fight.

A man who lived a block from Vega identified Raul Vega as the person fighting with Angel-Esparza, Santa Rosa police detective Andrew Riled testified Friday afternoon.

The hearing continues Monday morning.