Alfred Flores III
Facts of the Crime:
The triple murder took place on March 19, 2001 as Flores was trying to expand his gang's territory into the Inland Empire; when three teenagers rejected his offer, they were shot to death. In April 2003, a jury convicted Flores of killing Rialto teens Ricardo Torres, 15; Jason Van Kleef, 18; and Alexander Ayala, 17. The jurors also voted for the death penalty, and relatives of the slain teens asked for the same. Flores, who glared at members of the audience and slouched in his chair, offered no statements and only laughed at demands for his execution. "Laugh all you want," said Torres' sister, Alejandra. "I hate you. We hate you," she said. Ayala's sister, Ruth Roybal, said Flores had the "heart of a coward, heart of a demon that came to kill and destroy."
Prosecutors said they hope Flores' death sentence will close what they described as a violent criminal career. Flores, who was recruited into a gang at age 10, has confessed to killing a man who slept with his mother. He also played a role in the shooting of a former girlfriend and the stabbing of a youth counselor in the face with a pencil, according to prosecutors. Flores was described by authorities as a leader of an El Monte gang known for menacing the neighborhood. Just days before the killings, Flores went on a crime spree, holding up at least two restaurants at gunpoint and shooting and injuring a handful of bystanders, police said. He was accompanied by a fellow gang member, Andrew Mosqueda, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison for the crimes.
Flores was officially sentenced to death in San Bernardino County by a judge on May 19, 2003.
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