Perris Man Accused Of Carjacking, Barricading Himself To Stand Trial

RIVERSIDE, CA — A convicted felon accused of carjacking a man and driving the victim's car into Moreno Valley, where deputies tried to stop him, culminating in his fleeing into a home and barricading himself inside, must stand trial for felony evading and other charges, a judge ruled Wednesday.

Johnny Isaac Zuniga, 29, of Perris was arrested last year following the pursuit and unsuccessful evasion attempt on the south end of Moreno Valley.

At the end of a preliminary hearing Wednesday, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Randall Stamen found there was sufficient evidence to bound Zuniga over for trial on the evading count, along with auto theft, possession of stolen property, burglary, hit-and-run resulting in property damage and a sentence-enhancing allegation of being a repeat car thief.

The judge scheduled a post-preliminary hearing arraignment for Oct. 16 at the Riverside Hall of Justice. Zuniga is being held in lieu of $200,000 bail at the Robert Presley Jail.

According to a pretrial services brief filed by the Riverside County District Attorney's Office, in the predawn hours of Sept. 13, 2023, the defendant confronted a Menifee motorist at an unspecified location and used a weapon to forcibly remove the victim from the car, after which Zuniga sped away.

He drove 20 miles north into Moreno Valley and was traveling westbound on Sunnymead Boulevard, near Indian Avenue, when sheriff's patrol deputies spotted him around 3:30 a.m. and ran a records check on the car, quickly confirming it had been reported stolen, prosecutors said.

The deputies signaled Zuniga to stop, but he allegedly accelerated, triggering a pursuit, according to sheriff's officials.

As Zuniga headed southbound, deputies in another patrol unit deployed a spike strip in the path of the stolen car, instantly deflating its tires and causing the vehicle to careen off the road and through a chain-link fence at the edge of a flood control channel, according to the DA's brief.

The defendant bailed out of the car and ran toward the Campanilia Fortuna Estates, where he vanished from sight, prosecutors allege.

Deputies sent up drones with loud speakers, ordering Zuniga to surrender, at which point three people emerged from a house, yelling that he had gone inside their residence and bolted the door, the brief stated.

"Deputies surrounded the property and told him to come outside," the narrative said. "He barricaded himself in the residence for a few hours."

A crisis negotiator called him, and he "ultimately surrendered because the deputy on the phone told him during negotiations that he shouldn't destroy an innocent person's home," according to the brief.

No one was injured.

Court records show Zuniga has prior convictions in Riverside County for domestic violence, assault resulting in great bodily injury, receiving a stolen vehicle and trespassing.

—City News Service