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Two suspects, Miguel Bracamontes Ruiz, 23, from East Palo Alto, and 21-year-old Michael Tyrone Darrell McNack, of Union City, were charged in connection to the murder of 34-year-old Ralph Fields Jr, who was shot in East Palo Alto’s Jack Farrell Park in May 2022.
Bracamontes Ruiz and McNack, two of four suspects in the shooting that killed Fields and injured three others, took plea deals on Nov. 4 and were believed to be connected, said San Mateo County District Attorney Stephen Wagstaffe.
Bracamontes Ruiz was convicted of one count of felony assault with a firearm, one count of negligent discharge of a firearm, one felony count of evading the police and a misdemeanor count of battery. He was sentenced to nine years and four months in prison, Wagstaffe said in a phone call on Thursday.
McNack, meanwhile, pleaded no contest to one felony count of assault with a gun and was sentenced to eight years in prison, Wagstaffe said.
The two are not being charged with murder, as the details of the attack, which authorities say was targeted, are still unclear and police are unsure if any of the suspects were acting in self-defense.
On May 17, 2022, at around 6 p.m., two pairs of people began shooting at each other at the park, where around 60 children and residents were enjoying the area and attending sports practices. Passersby were caught in the crossfire of 33 gunshots, leaving the community shuddered.
After Fields was shot in the chest, authorities applied pressure to his wounds, but he died from his injuries in an ambulance en route to the hospital.
Three other people were shot, two in the chest and the third had lower extremity wounds, according to dispatchers. It is unclear if these victims were the suspects in the shooting, but at least two of the suspects were injured in the attack, Wagstaffe said.
Just a week after the murder, two suspects were arrested, and remain among the four people in custody today. In Aug. 2023, Ruiz, McNack, Bobby Williams, 49, from San Francisco and Luis Mariscal, 38, of East Palo Alto were indicted on numerous charges, including assault with a deadly weapon and discharge of a firearm with gross negligence.
Bobby Williams Jr. will take his case to court on Jan. 24 and Luis Javier Mariscal is facing unrelated attempted murder charges in Santa Clara County – he does not yet have a court date set for this case, Wagstaffe said.
The biggest piece of evidence in the case was an eight-year-old’s video of the fatal evening, Wagstaffe said, and he thanked the citizens of East Palo Alto most for helping with the arrests.
Field’s death was the first homicide of 2022, in a former crime hot spot that was more recently designated a “clean zone” – a place community members and authorities cared for and cleaned.
Following the shooting, the city of East Palo Alto decided to install surveillance cameras throughout local spaces and in 2023, recorded a homicide-free year.
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