Merced killing of pregnant mother has neighbors concerned, as investigation continues

Three days after a 19-year-old mother-to-be was gunned down at a home in Merced’s Loughborough area, police continue to search for the killer — while residents remain concerned.

As of Wednesday morning, Merced police had not announced the arrest of any suspects in the Sunday night shooting that killed Tatyanna Lopez and her child Ayanna — who was just two weeks away from being born.

Although the baby was unborn, her death has also been designated as a homicide by the Merced County Coroner’s Office.

The shooting injured Lopez’s boyfriend, 18-year-old Angel Legrande. Police are still seeking to speak with Enrique Madera Fierros — a person who fled the scene of the shooting. Although police have said Fierros is not a suspect — they are considering him a “person of interest.”

Police also say Fierros has warrants for his arrest in both Merced and Santa Clara counties.

Merced Police Capt. Jay Struble said Legrande is currently in stable condition and is refusing to cooperate with authorities.

“We still haven’t been able to establish a motive,” Struble said.

Neighbors concerned

Meanwhile, deaths of Tatyanna and her baby still remain on the minds of residents in the Loughborough area neighborhood where the shooting happened.

Conestoga Drive resident Jenni Perry on Monday said she was at home watching television at the time of the shooting when she heard about six shots.

Perry said an ambulance arrived on scene and she observed one person being taken away from the scene by ambulance. Perry said police were at the scene and speaking with neighbors until about 2 a.m.

“We’ve had a lot of fireworks around here lately so it was kind of hard to tell, like what it was, until I heard like the sirens and then came out here and just saw they started blocking off the road,” Perry said.

Perry, who has lived in the neighborhood for about 12 years, recalled a drive-by shooting a couple of years ago that appeared to target a vehicle.

But otherwise, said she finds the neighborhood hasn’t been a bad place to live. “I’ve never once had any run-in with any kind of crime here, right here so I mean, I’ve always felt safe,” Perry said.

Perry mentioned that in the past few years residents have stepped up efforts to improve the neighborhood — having trash cleanups on weekends and positive activities for youth and others.

Many of those efforts were spearheaded years ago by Merced Mayor Matt Serratto, who represented the Loughborough area on the City Council before becoming mayor.

Perry said she sees police patrolling the area a lot which makes her feels safe. Still, she said Sunday’s homicide has left her shaken.

She allows her teenage son to walk to nearby businesses in the area. Still, Perry said until she finds out a motive for Sunday’s shooting she probably won’t allow him to freely walk through the area.

Another Conestoga Drive resident, Anya Garcia on Monday said she returned home about 9:30 p.m. the night of the shooting and saw an ambulance on the street. Initially she thought it was for her adopted grandmother next door, but realized there was crime scene tape up and police vehicles.

Garcia said her grandmother heard about five gunshots. Another person she knew, who was walking in the area, heard a total of nine gunshots.

“Now we have all these questions in our head and our kids are like, ‘are we okay?,’”Garcia said.

“It kind of hit close to home because she was 19 and pregnant and I have a 19-year-old that just had a baby.”

Mayor to continue neighborhood outreach

Many longtime Mercedians will remember that 40 years ago, the Loughborough area was considered a prime location to live.

Back then, much of the apartments and homes were built to meet the needs of enlisted personnel and temporary duty officers from nearby Castle Air Force Base.

But the base closed in 1995. In the years that followed, gang violence and homicides became issues that city leaders struggled with in the neighborhood.

Serratto said the Loughborough area is much better than it used to be, but said he still sees too much gang activity and violence. “I’ve got a lot of love for that area of town,” Serratto said. There’s just a lot of good hardworking people there.”

According to Serratto, if gang violence can be eliminated in that area it would be a much better neighborhood.

Serratto said he’s done a lot of outreach in the area over many months, which included going door-to-door, hosting a community barbecue as well as holding a block party on Meadows Avenue which drew a couple hundred people.

Serratto said he also held a targeted cleanup day in the area during his campaign.

When speaking with residents in the district, Serratto said people voiced concerns about the condition of trees as well as curbs, gutters, storm drains, sidewalks and youth programs.

The mayor said he was a little surprised to see that concerns of violence and gang issues were further down the list — as more quality of life issues dominated.

Serratto said now it’s important to make sure the police department and the Gang Violence Suppression Unit get the support it needs to in order to try and reduce violent crime in the Loughborough area.

Anyone with information about Sunday’s shooting is asked to call Detective John Pinnegar at 209-388-7712 or email pinnegarj@cityofmerced.org.

Tips are confidential and you can remain anonymous.

This story was originally published April 21, 2021 at 1:22 PM.