Former Gang Member Sentenced in ’92 Santa Ana High School Murder : Violence: Shooting, in which one man was killed and three others injured, outraged community and led to creation of an anti-gang program.

SANTA ANA —  A former gang member, who killed one man and wounded three others in a 1992 Santa Ana High School shooting that briefly sparked community-wide outrage against gang violence, was sentenced Friday to 20 years to life in prison.

The formal sentencing of Uciel T. Murgo, 20, came almost two months after he pleaded guilty in Orange County Superior Court to second-degree murder charges in the shooting death of Mauro Vergara Meza, 31, a deliveryman for a local nursery.

The attack angered local residents and prompted city officials to adopt a major program to combat gang violence.

Murgo also pleaded guilty to eight charges of attempted murder in connection with the incident, which occurred as Meza attempted to drive away in a van loaded with eight companions with whom he had been playing pickup basketball at one of the high school courts.

Three of Meza’s relatives in the van also were wounded, including a brother, Winulfo, who was shot in the head and permanently disabled. He was 24 years old at the time of the shooting. Meza was shot in the face and died after driving a short distance from the schoolyard.

Throughout Friday’s court hearing, Murgo, who also had worked as a security guard, remained solemn and addressed the court in a halting voice just before Judge John J. Ryan handed down the sentence.

“First of all, I want to say I know what I did was wrong. . . . I know I hurt them bad,” said Murgo, outfitted in an orange jail uniform. “I am sorry I acted foolishly. I can’t bring them back, but I do pray for them every time I can.”

During a court hearing at which Murgo changed his not-guilty plea to guilty, police testified that Murgo, a former gang member, had told them he had gone to the high school to work out. A large group of gang members had gathered at the bleachers, and at one point, a van drove by and a loud bang was heard that seemed to come from the van.

Murgo told police he feared he was about to be shot and began firing at the van as he ran back toward the bleachers.

Had the case gone to trial, Murgo’s attorney, Jack Neil Swickard, said there would have been conflicting testimony over whether anyone fired shots from inside the van.

Although Murgo told police he was no longer affiliated with any gang at the time, Swickard said Murgo carried a gun because he feared being a victim of an attack, since he had been shot and stabbed in two separate incidents the year before Meza was killed.

“That was the perspective . . . from which the defendant operated,” Swickard said.

Before the judge pronounced the sentence, Meza’s wife, brother and others close to the victims asked why the shooting ever had to occur.

Murgo’s common-law wife, Gloria Castillo of Anaheim, then stood before the court and attempted to answer that question.

“We don’t really understand what happened, but what (Murgo) told us, and what we know, is that he feels a great remorse,” Castillo said, pleading for leniency so that the couple’s young son could be cared for. “No one knows what happened, no one but God. Whatever happened that day, it’s only (known) in God’s eyes.”

Turning to the victim’s family, Castillo repeated, in Spanish, “Whatever happened that day it’s only known in God’s eyes. . . . I feel for you and your children.”

Some of the victim’s family began muttering as Castillo began speaking to them, and other family members hushed them. The families of the victims and the defendant were separated by a narrow aisle down the center of the small courtroom, and the two groups said nothing to each other during or after the proceeding.

In rejecting the plea for leniency, Judge Ryan said he could not “in good conscience” give a lesser sentence, because Murgo had recklessly fired so many shots, and the casualties could have been greater in number.

“The problem . . . is there was a death, and there were others injured, and others that could also have been injured. . . . There were many, many potential victims,” Ryan said. Meza’s family did not comment as they quickly left the courtroom.

But Deputy Dist. Atty. Mark A. Sevigny said he was pleased with the sentence.

“This demonstrates what happens when people carry guns in public,” Sevigny said. “This really is a clear example of the tragedy that can result from the presence of handguns.”

Castillo said Murgo’s family was not surprised by the sentence.

“I never expected him to walk. Throughout the process, I expected him to do time,” she said. “God knows what really happened. He’s really sorry, and we are too, and I guess that’s all we can say.”

When the shooting occurred in April, 1992, Santa Ana residents were alarmed by what appeared to be the shooting of innocent victims by suspected gang members in a schoolyard. But within a month, the incident was overshadowed by the Los Angeles riots, and citywide attention to the case diminished.

The Santa Ana City Council followed up with the adoption of an anti-gang program, but it has fallen short of expectations.