Mendez, as a convicted felon on parole, wore a GPS monitoring bracelet and his whereabouts were tracked to the Log Cabin Liquor store that Thanksgiving Day. The evidence against the senior Mendez also included DNA collected from a baseball cap he dropped at the store and tape from one of store’s eight surveillance cameras.The tape revealed Thind and Mendez were fighting inside and outside the store. Thind was shot twice before Mendez fled.Thind, who no longer owns the liquor store and moved out of the area, was not expected to recover and was in a coma for almost two weeks. Thind told the jury Mendez said he had to kill him before he fled.Anthony Mendez was later convicted of crimes related to the carjacking and firing on police, and is serving a prison term. Alexander Mendez will be sentenced December 11, according to Ventura County Superior Court Judge Charles Campbell.
Gun recovered from SP carjack leads to attempted murder conviction
November 13, 2009
Santa Paula News
An Oxnard man who repeatedly shot a Montalvo liquor store owner during a Thanksgiving Day 2007 attempted robbery and whose weapon was recovered after a carjacking at a Santa Paula restaurant was found guilty Monday of attempted murder and other charges.
By Peggy KellySanta Paula TimesAn Oxnard man who repeatedly shot a Montalvo liquor store owner during a Thanksgiving Day 2007 attempted robbery and whose weapon was recovered after a carjacking at a Santa Paula restaurant was found guilty Monday of attempted murder and other charges.Shamsher Thind, who owned the Log Cabin Liquor store at Alameda Avenue and Ventura Boulevard, testified last week he was shot twice at about 3:30 p.m. Nov. 22, 2007 during the attempted robbery. Jurors found Alexander Mendez, 41, guilty of attempted murder and attempted robbery with the use of a firearm causing great bodily injury, assault and commercial burglary. Jurors also found Mendez, a convicted felon, illegally possessed a firearm and ammunition. He is facing life in prison.In late October 2008, Mendez’s son Anthony, 19, also of Oxnard, Richard Moten, 22, and Rene Villanueva, 20, both of Santa Paula, and a 16-year-old juvenile were taken into custody after a wild chase that ended in a crash in Malibu. The vehicle they were driving had been carjacked from the Santa Paula Airport area on October 4.During the later pursuit the four fired on police officers. When the Pacific Coast Highway chase ended, a .30-caliber rifle was found in the car; the gun was later linked to the attempted murder of Thind.
