Suspect was Living in Castroville Under an Assumed Name
SALINAS—An officer with the California Highway Patrol who works out of the Salinas location pulled over a vehicle for a broken headlight near intersection of Harden Parkway and North Main Street in Salinas at about 1:35 am last Thursday, September 10. The driver, who was arrested for driving under the influence, identified himself as Agustin Alejo from Castroville. He was transported to Monterey County Jail for booking on DUI charges, end of story, right? Well, hold on – not so fast…
When Alejo was being booked into the Monterey County Jail, they discovered that he in fact had several aliases. One of the names he goes by stood out to the booking agents as Byron Contreras out of Los Angeles County.
It was discovered that Contreras was wanted for a murder committed back in 1989 in Los Angeles. It seems that Alejo, AKA Contreras, was a member of a criminal street gang in Los Angeles known as the Magician’s Club, and committed a violent murder on the streets of Hollywood.
The brutal murder Alejo/Contreras is accused of happened near this corner in Hollywood 26 years ago.
The report was that Contreras, along with four other members of the gang, where driving around the streets of the Hollywood Area when they came upon two rival gang members at the corner of Oxford Avenue and Clinton Street. Contreras’ group started throwing gang signs, while firing shots from their vehicle at the two other gang members, who were riding bikes at the time. One of the victims was hit and fell to the ground. That is when Contreras exited the vehicle and walked up the rival gang member and fired additional rounds into the victim as he laid on the ground.
Contreras also reportedly tried to kill the second rival gang member by firing at him as he ran away, but his shots missed. After that incident, Contreras left Los Angeles and was never seen again. But the other four suspects were taken into custody.
Now, fast forward to 2015, and Alejo/Contreras, finally in custody, will be extradited back to Los Angeles to face murder charges some 26 years later.
“This stop highlights the dangers of routine traffic stops, you never know what or who you are going to encounter during that routine traffic stop.” California Highway Patrol Public information Officer Oscar Loza said.
