King City Woman Pleads Guilty to 2013 Stabbing of High School Student
SALINAS — 24-year-old Sureno gang member Angela Zuniga of King City pleaded guilty to the May 2013 murder of 14-year-old Ricardo Ruiz, a student at Salinas High School. She faces 15 years to life in prison upon her sentencing on October 27th.
On the afternoon of May 17, 2013, Zuniga and a female friend took a bus from King City to Salinas and got off at East Alisal Street & California Avenue.
Ruiz and some friends were walking to the taco shop at the corner of East Alisal & North Madeira when Zuniga approached him with her hands behind her back and chest-bumped one of Ruiz’s friends.
She asked the friend if she was a gang member, at which point Ruiz intervened to try and diffuse the situation.
Zuniga then challenged Ruiz’s gang affiliation. When he answered, she pulled a knife and stabbed him twice in the neck.
Witnesses assert that Zuniga made several references to “Surenos” during the attack. Zuniga then tried to carjack a woman nearby but failed, and fled on foot.
Ruiz suffered severe brain damage due to blood loss and was non-responsive to treatment by the time he arrived at the hospital. He was taken off life support and passed away four days later.
Zuniga, who was 21 at the time, fled to Mexico but was ultimately arrested in Tijuana in July 2014. The friend who was with her at the time of the attack has not been charged.
