Gonzales Man Sentenced to 38 Years and 8 Months in Prison for 2021 Fatal Shooting, 2022 Attempted Murder and 2023 Jail Stabbing

 

SALINAS, California- Monterey County District Attorney Jeannine M. Pacioni announced on May 23

that on May 20, 2025 37-year-old Jesus Tejeda of Gonzales, was sentenced to 38 years and 8

months in prison after pleading no contest to voluntary manslaughter with the personal use a

firearm, attempted murder, and assault with a deadly weapon in furtherance of a gang, which arose

from three separate incidents in 2021, 2022 and 2023, respectively.

On December 13, 2021, Christopher Connor was shot in the side of his head while driving his

vehicle at the intersection of Nacional Court and Clark Street in Salinas. The vehicle then crashed

into a wall of the apartment complex at the intersection. The shooter left the passenger seat of the

vehicle, got into a vehicle that was following them, and fled the scene. After months of

investigation, Tejeda was identified as the shooter, but no motive for the shooting was ever

revealed.

On January 5, 2022, before he was identified in the fatal shooting, Tejeda was driving a stolen

vehicle near a farm in Gonzales. Another person, the attempted murder victim, was in the vehicle

with Tejeda. In front of numerous eyewitnesses, Tejeda and the victim exited the vehicle, and

Tejeda began to assault him, causing the victim to fall to the ground. Tejeda then grabbed a 55-

pound filled cinderblock and threw it at the victim’s head, knocking him unconscious. Tejeda then

fled the scene in the vehicle and was apprehended by law enforcement after leading them on a

dangerous, high-speed chase. The victim suffered great bodily injury, but he was uncooperative

with law enforcement and refused to provide any statement as to what happened or why it

happened.

On March 9, 2023, while in custody pending prosecution for the above offenses, Tejeda and

multiple other Norteño criminal street gang members in the Monterey County Jail coordinated with

each other to stab another inmate in their jail pod. Tejeda and other co-conspirators repeatedly

stabbed the inmate, inflicting great bodily on the victim, in furtherance of a criminal street gang.

Tejeda was sentenced by Judge Mark E. Hood. The homicide case was primarily investigated by

Detective John Richardson of the Salinas Police Department.