Man pleads not guilty to shooting that killed 4-year-old with stray bullet

The man accused of killing two people, including a child, in Watsonville last month pleaded not guilty to all charges Wednesday.

After two previous delays, Michael Escobar was arraigned on two counts of murder, among other charges, in Santa Cruz County Superior Court.

Police investigators arrested Escobar the same night they say he shot an innocent 4-year-old girl, while intending to shoot another man in a gang related incident in the parking lot of the Valley Inn Motel.

The shooting happened on Friday, October 10th, when police say Escobar was waiting for 33-year-old Ramon Rendon as he got off work.

Escobar allegedly shot Rendon, who died at the scene, but several of the bullets went through the Fish House Restaurant nearby.

Investigators say one of those stray bullets hit and killed 4-year-old Jaelyn Zavala who was sitting in the back office of her family’s business. It also struck another man who was in the office, though he survived his injuries.

Escobar’s public defender told NewsChannel 5 Wednesday that his client was not the shooter. Mark Briscoe says there were at least 20 other people at the scene, and one of them could have been the shooter.

“At this point it’s very difficult to even try to figure out what happened because there’s so much of the reports that are missing,” Briscoe said. “There’s apparently a video of the parking lot of where this occurred, that I haven’t seen yet — that I know people have seen and saw the night of the incident –which has some evidence on it but its unclear exactly what.”

Escobar also has been linked to three suspects arrested in connection with a spate of bank robberies in Santa Clara County, San Jose police said.

But Santa Cruz County prosecutor Johanna Schonfield said the murder cas, which she says was gang motivated, will take precedence.

“There is, I believe, information — the results of search warrants that were executed by San Jose police — where evidence was found that may come into play in our case,” she said. “But given that this is a double homicide it takes priority over that case and he’s going to stay here while we proceed on this case before doing anything with the bank robbery case.”

Judge Timothy Volkmann on Wednesday denied Escobar’s bail and ordered him back in court for a preliminary hearing on January 26.