One of three teenagers charged with homicide in the February shooting death of 29-year-old Luis Terrazas at Bohnett Park appeared Wednesday morning in Santa Barbara County Superior Court.
Jorge Angel Hurtado, a 19-year-old Camarillo resident, was dressed in a white shirt and black tie for the brief procedural hearing, where Judge Teresa Martinez set his next court date for August 5.
Hurtado has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, attempted murder (a second victim was critically wounded in the shooting), and carrying out the killing on behalf of his criminal street gang. He remains in custody on $3.1 million bail.
Hurtado’s defense attorney, Christine Voss, asked Judge Martinez to not allow the Independent to photograph her client during the proceedings, citing his young age and arguing any published images would prejudice a potential jury. Martinez disagreed and permitted press photography.
In addition to Hurtado, 18-year-old Ventura resident Jimmy Alexander Mora Jr. and an unidentified minor were arrested in June in connection with what authorities described as the “gang-related” killing of Terrazas.
Mora Jr. and the minor are being tried in juvenile court, which is not open to the public, because they were under the age of 18 at the time of the shooting, prosecutors said.
At the time of his death, Terrazas was out on bail and facing his own criminal charges related to the August 2025 stabbing death of a 30-year-old Santa Barbara man at the height of Fiesta celebrations.
Four months before the shooting, court records show Hurtado was arrested for felony assault. The felony was reduced to a misdemeanor in a plea deal, and Hurtado was sentenced to 30 days in jail and one year of probation.
Last month, on June 18, another shooting at Bohnett Park shook Santa Barbara’s Eastside neighborhood. This time, the victim survived, but his identity and condition are not publicly known.
Despite initially detaining “several individuals” in a vehicle that matched the description of a car leaving the scene, police do not currently have any suspects in custody and are unsure if the attack was gang-related.
A June 28 stabbing on Milpas Street yielded the same results. Arrests are pending and a possible gang connection is still under investigation.
Despite these recent incidents, police insist Santa Barbara is not experiencing a rise in violent gang activity. Of the 1,569 violent crimes committed in the city over the last 12 months, authorities said, only 22 were gang-related.
Elaine Sanders contributed to this report.
