A San Diego man who survived being shot in the face by police after holding a woman hostage and shooting at multiple people in a Costa Mesa neighborhood was sentenced to 21 years in state prison on Friday.
The Orange County District Attorney’s office had asked for a minimum sentence of 35 years to life plus 20 years, arguing the rampage was premeditated. But the court gave a “lenient sentence,” according to a news release sent out by OCDA.
On Dec. 31, 2019 at around 3:30 p.m., Steven Taylor Fernandez, 26, of San Diego, took two semi-automatic guns and ran through a Costa Mesa neighborhood on a shooting rampage after being rejected by a woman he had romantic feelings for.
Fernandez expressed a desire to do whatever necessary to be killed by police, the release said.
He discharged his weapons into the air near people standing outside their homes, shot at a home and unoccupied vehicle, and a police officer who responded to scene.
At one point he ran through an unlocked house to a backyard where a woman was and held her hostage on the ground until he jumped the fence into an adjacent yard.
The thee-hour-long standoff ended after Fernandez was shot by SWAT officers when he pointed a gun at them.
Fernandez was charged with multiple felonies and one misdemeanor.
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