Brothers Convicted of Gunning Down Man Outside Perris Convenience Store
One of two brothers involved in the slaying of a man during a robbery outside a Perris convenience store was convicted Thursday of first-degree murder and other charges.
A Riverside jury deliberated less than a day before finding Edgar Sanchez Ortega, 25, of Perris guilty in the 2021 killing of 25-year-old George Torres of Moreno Valley. A separate jury on Wednesday afternoon convicted Bryan Ortega, 21, of the murder. His jury deliberated nearly two days before returning with a verdict in the nearly monthlong trial.
In addition to murder, Edgar Ortega was convicted of robbery, attempted robbery and a special-circumstance allegation of killing in the course of a robbery. His younger brother was found guilty of the same counts, along with sentence-enhancing gun and great bodily injury allegations.
Riverside County Superior Court Judge Jason Armand scheduled a joint sentencing hearing for Jan. 10 at the Riverside Hall of Justice. The brothers are being held without bail — Bryan Ortega at the Smith Correctional Facility in Banning, and his sibling at the Byrd Detention Center in Murrieta.
According to a trial brief filed by the District Attorney's Office, the defendants went on a robbery spree that began shortly after 1 a.m. on Nov. 26, 2021, when they spotted a man walking through a field along Wells Street in Perris. Bryan Ortega got out of his brother's four-door sedan and accosted the victim, shouting, "What's up, homie?" the brief said.
The victim, identified in court documents only as "M.F.," later told sheriff's investigators that he didn't know the person but was immediately frozen with fear when the man walked up to him, racked the slide on a 9mm handgun and "pushed the barrel against the side of his head," court papers said.
"Bryan said, `Strip off all your clothes,"' the brief stated. "M.F. hesitated ... and when he did that, Bryan struck him with the gun on the side of the head and said, `Get naked. I'm for real. I'll kill you.' M.F. therefore complied. Bryan pistol-whipped him again after he took his clothes off, and the victim went down to his knees."
Ortega grabbed the man's clothes and mobile phone, which doubled as a wallet, and jumped back into his brother's car, then the pair sped away. M.F. walked to a Circle K and sought help.
Only 20 minutes later, the defendants drove to an am/pm convenience store/gas station at 4040 Perris Blvd. and began inhaling drugs or vapors via balloons while sitting in Edgar Ortega's vehicle, according to the prosecution. The men saw Torres pull into the parking lot in his Honda sedan and decided to rob him and his male friend, identified only as "J.N."
After J.N. got out of the passenger side of the Honda and went into the store to purchase cigarettes, Edgar Ortega backed his sedan into the parking stall immediately adjacent to the victim's car. When J.N. returned and sat back down in the Honda, Bryan Ortega stepped out of his brother's vehicle, pulled his 9mm handgun and told J.N. and Torres, who was at the wheel, "Give me everything you got," according to the brief.
J.N. complied, handing over his cigarettes and cash, but Torres refused, prompting Ortega to demand that the victim hand over his sunglasses. The young man balked and instead grabbed a pistol that he'd hidden in the Honda and fired at Ortega, who "then began shooting into the car multiple times," the brief said.
Torres was hit by several bullets and died at the scene. J.N. was not wounded. The defendants fled as witnesses called 911.
Central Homicide Unit detectives reviewed storefront security surveillance camera images that morning and quickly identified the brothers as the assailants, also linking them to the assault and robbery of M.F., culminating in the men's arrests without incident at a Santa Ana hotel the same day.
Prosecutors said Edgar Ortega has been involved in at least three assaults on fellow inmates since he was jailed. Those incidents, however, have not resulted in charges. Neither he or his younger brother had documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.
