SANTA ANA — An 18-year-old Cudahy man with “anger issues” gunned down a gang-affiliated woman in her car in Anaheim because she had upset the younger members of the gang following a 2020 murder, police allege in court documents obtained Wednesday.

Jerry Gilbert Gutierrez was charged Tuesday with murder and discharge of a gun at a vehicle, both felonies, with sentencing enhancements for fatal discharge of a gun. He pleaded not guilty and was ordered held without bail.

Gutierrez is accused of killing 48-year-old Charlene Lynn Zuazo of Anaheim on March 4.

The Anaheim Police Department responded just before 8 p.m. March 4 to a call of shots fired at Cypress and Vine streets, Sgt. Matt Sutter said. Another call of a car crash came in “simultaneously” in the 700 block of north Vine Street, about a half-mile away, Sutter said.

Officers found the driver of the car that crashed had suffered gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene, Sutter said. When the officers went back to the scene of the shots fired, they found evidence of a shooting and “put two and two together” and determined the victim got shot and drove a short distance before crashing into a parked car, Sutter added.

Zuazo died close to her home on Vine Street, police said in court papers. Police found a fully loaded revolver pistol under her body, police said.

An autopsy showed Zuazo bled to death from two gunshot wounds, police said.

Zuazo was a “well-documented and influential member” of a local gang, police said.

Surveillance video in the area helped police crack the case. The shooter is seen firing about 16 shots at Zuazo’s car as it headed east on Cypress Street, police alleged.

A witness who has known Zuazo since she was 8 years old told police she believed the victim had issues with younger members of the gang since the September 2020 killing of Rodolfo “Darky” Miranda, police reported.

Police found a gun, a pair of pants, a black bandanna and a glove in the area that they believe is connected to the killer, according to the court documents.

Surveillance video shows the defendant and another man with the suspect removing a sweatshirt and exposing a tattoo on his back and tattoos on his face that matched Gutierrez’s tattoos, police alleged. The suspect tossed his pants in a trash can and appeared to accidentally drop a glove on the ground, police alleged.

The other man was seen in the video telling the suspect to get rid of the sweatshirt and gun, but the suspect put the weapon in the bushes as the other man attempted to calm him down, police alleged.

Gutierrez is a documented gang member with a nickname of Bam Bam, police said.

When Gutierrez was arrested Friday, the defendant allegedly confessed to shooting the victim, but he said he did it in self-defense after she pointed a gun at him, police said.

Gutierrez told a detective he had shot people in the past, dating back to five or six years ago, police said. He said he shot a rival gang member he believed was going to kill him and then ran away and threw the weapon into a nearby riverbed, police alleged. He said he shot another acquaintance during a dispute, police alleged.

Gutierrez said he has had anger-management issues, and while in custody at the city jail, he broke at least two telephones when he threw or slammed them against a wall in anger, police alleged. In one of the instances, he injured his eye when the phone bounced back, police alleged.

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