Armed maniac who tried to fire at pursuing SFPD cop, only for gun to jam, found guilty at trial
A man who pointed a gun at a San Francisco police officer trying to arrest him, after he had already fired the weapon repeatedly outside a Mission district bar, was found guilty of ammunition possession today at the city’s federal courthouse.
Fernando Aguilera was convicted after a 50-minute bench trial before U.S. District Judge William Alsup. He was arrested in 2018 for a virtually identical incident.
“The evidence is overwhelming, the defendant is guilty as charged,” said Alsup.
Aguilera’s lawyers made clear this morning they were not suggesting their client was not guilty. They insisted on a trial to preserve the Honduran national’s right to appeal a previously-denied evidence suppression motion which might otherwise be surrendered.
The evidence regarding the April 2023 incident was uncontested.
“This is a case where a convicted felon…pulled a gun out at a crowded bar, went outside and fired it into the air multiple times,” assistant U.S. attorney Sophia Cooper told the court this morning.
“[Then] he pointed it at a police officer and made a firing motion,” she added.
Aguilera had fired four shots into the air at the intersection of 22nd and Capp Streets, having earlier brandished the weapon inside El Trebol bar.
A responding SFPD officer chased the suspect as he was running away, only for him to turn, point something at him, and make a shooting motion. He was later found with a gun, which police believed had jammed, and a bag containing 10 rounds of ammunition.
The court heard briefly from two witnesses, both SFPD officers who were involved in Aguilera’s arrest after the pursuit had come to an end.
SFPD Officer Mark Aiello testified that he received a Shotspotter notifcation on April 7 2023 while on patrol in San Francisco’s Mission district.
The court was shown footage from Aiello’s body worn camera as he and colleagues spotted Aguilera and moved to arrest him.
Aguilera was lying in weeds on a property at the corner of 23rd and Bartlett Streets.
“I saw the subject’s left hand underneath his left thigh and his right hand was above his head towards his right ear,” said Aiello.
“I observed a firearm to the right side of the individual’s head at that point,” he added.
“That’s when I told him to drop the firearm. I couldn’t tell if he had a grip on it.”
After retrieving the semi-automatic pistol, Aiello closely examined the weapon.
“This is a malfunction,” Aiello was heard to say. “It’s, like, jammed.”
After racking the gun several times, an unspent round of ammunition fell to the ground, which Aiello retrieved and inspected.
“It’s a 357 in a 9mm,” said a nonplussed Aiello, realizing that the fallen round was .357 ammunition – a larger-caliber round than the 9mm gun could accept.
“It was the wrong cartridge for that particular firearm,” Aiello explained to the court today.
“That particular firearm was chambered in 9mm in ammunition, but the actual bullet that jammed was a 357.”
The court had earlier heard that, while being chased, Aguilera had turned and pointed his gun at SFPD Officer Hurtado causing him to jump out of the way.
Law enforcement suspected that, when Aguilera made a firing motion with the weapon, he was attempting to fire it, but it jammed at that point because the round was the wrong type..
Aiello told the court that he had attended El Trebol “many times”.
“The crime rate is extremely high in that area,” he observed.
SFPD Officer Gustavo Castaneda testified that when Aguilera was arrested he was wearing a black and brown hat and a similarly-colored cross-body bag.
“I located in the outer pocket ten unfired cartridges – 9mm luger,” he said.
Castaneda was shown security camera footage from inside El Trebol that night.
“This is Mr Aguilera standing next to the pool table. At some point he takes out a pistol from his front waistband area and seems to be manipulating it somehow,” he said.
Castaneda noted that the bag Aguilera was wearing in the video was the same one he found him with and in which he found 10 rounds of 9mm ammunition.
Neither Aiello or Castaneda were cross-examined. The judge told attorneys that he did not need to see again the footage of Aguilera firing the weapon.
Aguilera’s rap sheet includes a 2018 arrest for an almost identical incident – when he pointing a gun at patrons outside a bar. One year later a woman reported that he had punched, strangled and threatened to kill her. In 2022 his girlfriend reported that she had lost consciousness after being hit and kicked by Aguilera, and when police arrived they found him holding two knives near to the woman.
He earlier failed in a bid to suppress evidence found by police in the case – arguing that officers did not have reasonable suspicion to seize him. Alsup roundly rejected this view and, in a 25-page ruling, corrected the “various misstatements of law and fact that underpin defendant’s position.”
“The evidence is overwhelming, the defendant is guilty as charged,” said Judge Alsup this morning in courtroom 12 of San Francisco federal courthouse.
“My verdict of guilty is without prejudice to his right of appeal the surpression and dismissal motions,” he said. “That is in no way compromised.”
Aguilera was ordered to return to court on May 27 for sentencing.
Please support our work by using this Paypal link
To be notified of new stories enter your email address here or follow us on X
