UPDATED, Oct. 10
By Lindsey Maeda
MONTEREY PARK—Bakersfield resident Jose Ruiz, 22, was charged with the murder of Patrick Ortega at Shakey’s Pizza Parlor on Atlantic Blvd, last Saturday night.
Detective Steve Blagg of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau said that they are waiting to file charges against Ruiz today.
The cause of Ortega’s death was first reported to authorities as a shooting, but it was later learned he was actually stabbed to death.
Ortega, 25, of Monterey Park, was fatally stabbed with a knife in the upper body multiple times, just after 7 p.m. on Saturday.
“(Ortega) had passed well before my shots were fired,” Blagg said.
After searching several cars authorities found Ruiz hiding in the back seat of a vehicle located near the crime scene around 11:18 p.m.
Police officers drew their weapons and demanded Ruiz step out of the car.
An officer-involved shooting took place outside the restaurant following Ortega’s death. An officer attempted to stop the car fleeing the scene at high speed.
As the vehicle drove toward the officer, the officer fired one round from a shotgun.
At the time of the incident, several adults and children were in the pizza parlour.
Blagg said that according to witnesses in the restaurant, the incident began as an argument, and then escalated to a physical altercation.
The Monterey Police Department first responded to a report that several people were fighting.
While the police were en route, there was a second report that a gunshot had been fired inside the restaurant.
Police officers blocked off Atlantic Boulevard from Floral Drive to Brightwood Street and directed traffic around the crime scene.
A crowd of people formed across the street from Shakey’s Pizza Parlour.
The incident attracted not only family and friends of the people who had been inside the restaurant at the time, but also other members of the community.
Ortega’s family and friends stood with this group, as they waited for Ortega’s body to be removed from the building.
