Ulises Carrillo-Cruz, 20, looks over paperwork with his lawyer as he admits to firing a shot that injured a woman outside his Centralia apartment.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – The case involving four men charged after a woman was shot in the shoulder outside an apartment complex on Ash Street in Centralia is coming to a close.
All have pleaded guilty in what police called a gang-related dispute that came to a head at the end of December, and possibly had its roots in a drive-by shooting almost two years ago in Chehalis.
Ulises Carrillo-Cruz, 20, was sentenced to 13 months in prison today, after admitting he fired the shot that that struck 28-year-old Genevieve Purser.
Carrillo-Cruz pleaded guilty to second-degree assault, a charge that didn’t exactly match the situation but was close enough when lawyers came up with a plea agreement, according to defense attorney J. P. Enbody.
Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Colin Hayes said both attorneys agreed the two groups involved had a dispute that included past violence.
Hayes said both sides faced some risks if going to trial as to whether self defense may have come into play, as he described to a judge today the reason for the deal.
Carrillo-Cruz was originally charged with first-degree assault as well as unlawful possession of a firearm.
He, his older brother Rolando Carrillo-Cruz, 25, and two 18-year-olds, all Centralia residents, were arrested on Dec. 27 after a mid-day confrontation at the Edison Terrace Apartments.
The two brothers were at their mother’s house in Chehalis in August 2010 when someone drove by and fired a round that struck a parked vehicle, according to Enbody.
“After that, and we’re still trying to figure out why, the bad blood continued,” Enbody told the judge.
Enbody said they think it had to do with the brothers having contact with the estranged wife of one of the men alleged to have been responsible for the drive-by shooting.
Just weeks before December’s incident, Enbody said, some of those involved who he said were part of the so-called LVL gang went to his client’s apartment on Ash Street with baseball bats breaking windows.
“And the last thing they said, is we’ll be back,” Enbody said.
Enbody told Judge James Lawler he was giving background for the judge to consider when he handed down the sentence.
His client had a broken leg in a cast when he sees the same group, including one individual flashing a gun arrive in vehicles and start coming their way, yelling and flashing gang signs, he said.
The brothers had bought a gun to protect themselves, he said.
Enbody said his client fired a warning shot, that hit the ground less than halfway toward those arriving.
He hired a firearms expert who met with Centralia police detective Pat Beall at the site to try and figure how the second shot occurred, he said.
“Beall mentions a limp wrist or something, and the recoil,” he said. “The second shot goes off.”
Enbody said his client took two polygraph tests that supported his version of what occurred.
In the defendant’s written statement, he admitted to recklessly inflicting substantial bodily harm upon the victim. There was no statement from the victim mentioned aloud during today’s proceedings in Lewis County Superior Court.
Ulises Carrillo-Cruz’ answered simply “Yes sir” to each of the judge’s questions.
The standard sentencing range for his conviction was 12 to 14 months, according to the judge.
Lawler called the attorneys’ recommendation of 13 months in prison a fair resolution, which he would abide by.
Rolando Carrillo-Cruz has already been sentenced to six months in prison. He pleaded guilty in early February to rendering criminal assistance, in order to take advantage of a plea offer, according to his court file.
Both Carrillo-Cruz’s are facing possible deportation. Enbody said he didn’t know the details, only that his client said he’d lived in Lewis County since he was six months old.
Francisco J. Robles, 18, admitted in late January to hiding the gun when he pleaded guilty to rendering criminal assistance. He is scheduled to be sentenced on May 30
Javier E. Martinez, 18, admitted in mid-January to rendering criminal assistance; he stated he flushed some shell casings down a toilet. His sentencing is set for June 7.
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For background, read “Centralia men charged after apartment complex shooting” from Thursday December 29, 2011, here
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
Lvl’s? Thats funny because they aren’t involved with them at .all. Like I said before know your Shit before you talk. I know them personally.
OK, “Z.”, what is the gang-banger thug side of the story? Or will “The Crazy Vaginas” (or whatever it is that “LVL” stands for) even be able to come up with something?
To all of you guys who don’t know the whole story, before you go on here and start saying stuff that isn’t true get your facts straight.
The Joshua Vance case has no bearing here. I myself am a natural born U.S. citizen and like others that fit that description it has no bearing on some foreign born nationals coming to this country to commit crimes like drug distribution. Ever see all the nice new vehicles with chrome rims being driven by people who seem to hail from a third world impoverished corrupt nation? Do you wonder how they can afford them when they don’t know how to speak english?
Then there is the establishment enablers like the Chambers of Commerce who aid foriegn nationals in order to keep labor costs low for their member’s business’. And the Catholic Church who build housing specificly for targeted foriegn nationals.
We are now living in what is a near third world country, with a economy based on service sector jobs.
Also check out the name’s on the Lewis County Jail inmate roster, for further evidence.
HAHAHAHA
Well, Momof3, Joshua Vance is white. What should be done with the rest of us honkies because Josh stabbed his father to death?
Fing Mexicans! Go back to Mexico. They are probably illegal or their parents are!
I think we should lock all of the gang members in a room and let them “sort” out their problems.
i personally know rolando and some of his afiliates and know they are gang related and where this incident may have been self defense they are plenty he and the others have been involved in that were not and as he may have lived in lewis county since he was six months old this is definitly not the first time he or some of the others have been deported and we all need to think on these facts before we feel sorry for them we need to worry about cleaning up the streets of lewis county not helping them stay the same
i can tell you for a fact that the was not there frist time shooting at somrone
George, beware the backlash when doing a drive-by reading….
Jen, it doesn’t matter… they had armed themselves in order to retaliate against another gang. But you go on feeling sorry for them, because they were the ones who were attacked, right?
SMH, denial is more than just a river in Africa. If they were NOT in a violent criminal street gang, there would have been no need for them to go about arming themselves to retaliate against another violent criminal street gang.
If you look at almost every news story printed (and it doesn’t matter where it is printed), when a gang member is busted, injured, or killed, you will have people literally crawling out of the woodwork to claim “he was such a good boy…” or “he was working so hard to help his family…” Truth is, 99.9999999% of those people are in complete denial, or are telling lies in order to cover their own involvement in the criminal lifestyle.
Rolando? gang affiliated?! Ahahahahaha!!! You obviously dont know him that well. Thanks for the laugh tho.
I can definitely vouch that the older Cruz is gang affiliated. One could easily presume that the others are too. He’s a sheisty little dope pedeler.
George- nor were they the ones belonging to the street gang.
george if you can read the drive by was committed against them they did not commit the drive by
SMH, it doesn’t matter, in the end. Recklessly firing a weapon in the general direction of someone is bad enough already… but to pull this “I’m scared” baloney is just that… baloney. If they were scared, they wouldn’t have been in a violent criminal street gang. Of course, since they were caught, they will whine and cry all day about how scared they are/were… it helps to do that so people will feel sorry for them.
George maybe you should read better. The carrillos werent the ones doing the drive by shooting, they were the ones being shot at.
“Both Carrillo-Cruz’s are facing possible deportation. Enbody said he didn’t know the details, only that his client said he’d lived in Lewis County since he was six months old.”
Never fear. If they are deported, they’ll be back in a short time, committing more crime (a drive-by shooting is “self defense?). If they aren’t deported, it will be because some bleeding heart said “but they don’t know about the country they came from”…. too bad.