Delhi homicide victim identified; murder charges filed

A man shot and killed Friday in Delhi has been identified as a 23-year-old Merced man.

Abram Sigula Hernandez died at a Modesto hospital after he was shot while in the 1500 block of Shell Street in Delhi, the Merced County Coroner’s Office confirmed Wednesday.

The county District Attorney’s Office on Wednesday charged the suspect in the case, Juan Carlos Gonzalez, with murder and attempted murder in connection with the attack that left Hernandez dead and a woman wounded. The woman’s name has not been released. She was shot at least once during the same attack, but her injury was not believed to be life-threatening, according to the county Sheriff’s Office.

Efforts to reach Hernandez’s family Wednesday were unsuccessful.

Investigators have not commented on a motive and also have declined to discuss specific details or circumstances of the attack. Detective Sgt. Chuck Hale confirmed that investigators believe Gonzalez is a gang member and that the attack was gang-motivated but declined to elaborate to protect the investigation.

If convicted, the 25-year-old Delhi man faces a potential sentence of more than 75 years to life in prison, according to Harold Nutt, the chief deputy district attorney who filed the criminal charges.

Gonzalez faces additional prison time, if convicted, for alleged gang involvement and because of a prior strike conviction, Nutt said.

According to Merced Superior Court records, Gonzalez pleaded no contest in 2012 to a felony count of voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to serve seven years in state prison.

Gonzalez admitted to accidentally shooting 17-year-old Saul Lopez on Aug. 15, 2009, during a house party in Hilmar. He told investigators he and Lopez were playing with a .22-caliber revolver, and he put the weapon against the victim’s chest and pulled the trigger, according to Sun-Star archives.

Prosecutors said evidence in the case indicated the shooting was accidental. Gonzalez described Lopez as his best friend. Witnesses told investigators that after the shot went off, Gonzalez reacted as if it were a mistake and was heard saying, “I am sorry. I am sorry.”

Gonzalez’s attorney in that case told the Sun-Star that Gonzalez “just wishes the whole thing didn’t happen.”

He was sentenced in January 2013 to serve seven years in state prison.

Gonzalez was released from prison late last year, authorities confirmed, though the exact date of his release could not be confirmed Wednesday. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation did not immediately respond to a telephone call seeking comment Wednesday.

Authorities also confirmed that Gonzalez was in custody from the date of his arrest in 2009 until he was sentenced in 2013 and received credit for time served as part of his release.

Gonzalez appeared briefly Wednesday in Merced Superior Court via video monitor from the jail. He did not enter a plea. Commissioner Jeanne Schechter ordered Gonzalez to return to court Friday for arraignment, according to Gerard Egan, a Merced County deputy district attorney.

He remains in custody without bail at the Merced County Jail.

Anyone with information regarding this case is asked to contact the Merced County Sheriff’s Major Crimes Unit at 209-385-7472.

This story was originally published March 9, 2016 at 3:09 PM with the headline "Delhi homicide victim identified; murder charges filed."