April 6, 2021 – Santa Barbara County, Ca.
The first rule of stealing a gun from a county sheriff’s office should be memorized by anyone brazen enough to commit such a crime…and that rule should be repeated aloud at least daily: Don’t Fire that Gun Just for Fun.
Apparently 20-year-old Jesus Coronado and his pal 22-year-old Carter Chavez, residents of Goleta, didn’t do that on the afternoon of April 2nd , which lead their neighbor to 911 Emergency Dispatch with a report of sounds of gunfire coming from next door According to Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department Public Information Officer Raquel Zick, responding deputies found Coronado and Chavez—both of whom closely matched their neighbor’s description of them—in the front yard of their residence.
As luck would have it, however, neither Coronado nor Chavez were in possession of a firearm when contacted, claiming to be unaware of any gunfire in the neighborhood. Clearly unconvinced by these protestations of innocence, five hours later the deputies returned to the residence with a search warrant for the premises in hand.
While conducting their search, deputies located “a .22 caliber handgun reported stolen from Mercer County Sheriff’s Office in Missouri.” At that point, the game was over and both Chavez and Coronado were taken into custody. Both were transported to Santa Barbara County Jail, where they were booked for negligent discharge of a firearm, conspiracy, possession of stolen property, and possession of metal knuckles, with their bail set at $35,000 each.
