Baby was shot in head after man’s advances rejected, Fresno prosecutor says at trial

The trial of a Fresno man charged with shooting into a car and hitting 10-month old baby in the head started with the prosecutor alleging the defendant became enraged after he was rejected by the woman he was flirting with.

Deputy District Attorney Jenny Volanti on Thursday said during her opening statement that Marcos Antonio Echartea, 27, was at a friend’s birthday party on June 22, 2019 when a then 18-year-old Deziree Menagh caught his attention.

The party was happening in the front yard of a home in the 3600 block of East Hammond Avenue in southeast Fresno.

During the evening, Echartea tried several times to talk to Menagh, but she refused. He tried coaxing her into a bathroom to talk and a few moments later, urged her to sit on his lap, Volanti said.

Menagh’s friend, who is Black, arrives and Echartea sees her talking to him. He gets jealous and yells to Menagh, “you going to pick a Black guy over me,” according to Volanti.

It’s at that point, she decides to get away from Echartea. She collects her 10-month old baby, Fayth Percy, and they get inside her friend’s Audi.

The drive a short distance away, park and wait for the situation to cool down, Volanti said.

“Then all of a sudden the defendant came out of nowhere and three shots are fired at the car,” Volanti said.

One of those bullets strikes Fayth in the forehead, piercing her skull and exiting out of the back of her head. Two other bullets hit the car and no one else is hit.

Panicked, the driver speeds away and calls 911.

10-month-old baby survives gunshot to head

Rodney Zumkehr, a Fresno police officer, was wrapping up a call when he saw the driver of the Audi, flashing his lights and honking his horn. Zumkehr pulls the car over and almost immediately the driver and the baby’s mom frantically jump out of the car and plead for help.

Zumkehr’s body cam video shows a chaotic scene. You hear crying and screaming and then you see Fayth, swaddled in a blanket with her face covered in blood.

“Oh my God, my baby, Oh my God,” the panicked mother yells.

Zumkehr testified that he applied gentle pressure to the baby’s wounds to try and stop the bleeding.

“She was surprisingly alive but also slipping in and out of consciousness,” Zumkehr said.

The baby was taken to Community Regional Medical Center where she underwent emergency surgery. Volanti said she remained under doctor’s care for 26 days and then released to a rehabilitation center to recover from her traumatic brain injury.

A witness who was also at the party testified that she heard the gunshots and heard Echartea’s brother yell at him.

“I heard him say, ‘why did you do that? Go back in the house,’” said Heaven Moran, a longtime friend of Menagh. “I also heard him call his brother stupid and that the cops were coming.”

Defense questions narrative

Echartea’s attorney, Jane Boulger, said during her opening statements that there are a lot of inconsistencies among the witnesses in the case. She also said no one can corroborate that her client tried to pull Menagh into a bathroom to talk.

There was also a lot of drinking going on at the party, Boulger said, including from her client. She questions whether some of the witnesses memories might not be as accurate as they remember.

Boulger said this wasn’t a case of amorous jealously.

“The portrait of my client will be redefined in this case,” she said. “We know a child was shot and injured. But we don’t know the who, the what, the when, the where and the why. There is a different story.”

Echartea is charged with assault with a firearm, assault with a semi-automatic firearm and shooting at another person from a motor vehicle.

If convicted on all counts, Echartea could spend the rest of his life in prison.

The trial is expected to continue into next week in Dept. 72.