Merced gang member ‘guilty’ in 2016 shooting of two women, prosecutors say

A 28-year-old Merced man faces a potential lifetime prison sentence for shooting two women in 2016, the Merced County District Attorney’s Office announced Friday.

Sergio Uriostegui was convicted Wednesday of shooting the women, ages 22 and 26, during the early-morning hours of Oct. 18, 2016, at a home on O Street in Merced, authorities said.

Prosecutors said Uriostegui and the women were drinking at the home when he became “agitated” and pointed a gun at one of the women “while making threatening comments” about the father of one of the woman’s children, prosecutors said in a statement.

Uriostegui, who prosecutors described as a gang member, shot one of the women three times and chased down the other woman when she ran from the house and shot her on the street, authorities said.

Police were in the area and quickly captured Uriostegui, who was holding a 9mm semiautomatic firearm when he was arrested, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors described Uriostegui as “repeat violent offender” who shot “two defenseless women.” He faces 25 years to life in prison when he is sentenced Sept. 19 in Merced County Superior Court, according to the District Attorney’s Office.