More than five years after a dad working his food truck on Father’s Day was struck down by gunfire, the innocent victim of a war between two Santa Ana gangs, the fate of a felon accused of firing the fatal shot is in the hands of an Orange County Superior Court jury.

Eliu Armando Gramajo’s food truck was a fixture in the 1700 block of Evergreen Street, and the 52-year-old father of three was well-liked in a neighborhood often marked by gang violence. His food truck – which bore bullet holes from multiple shootings in the area – also stood on the border between turf claimed by a pair of rival gangs with long histories of violence.

On a 100-degree-plus Sunday on June 19, 2016, Gramajo was gunned down.

Prosecutors allege that Jose De Jesus Gomez-Ochoa, now 36, killed Gramajo while opening fire on gang rivals. He is currently on trial for murder with a special circumstances allegation of gang activity.

“A working man was trying to support his family,” Senior Deputy District Attorney Janine Madera told jurors Thursday during her closing arguments. “His truck, while very popular, was also the line of demarcation between two warring gangs.”

Ochoa’s defense attorney countered that the gunfire likely came from members of the other street gang, not Ochoa.

“This is clearly a tragedy, but we are here to determine who killed Mr. Gramajo,” Marin G. Stapleton Jr., Ochoa’s attorney, told jurors. “I’m going to tell you, they got the wrong guy here.”

Several residents of the neighborhood reported hearing four or five gunshots ring out shortly after 7 p.m., seeing a man with a gun run through an alley and a truck peeling out as it left the area. Security footage from a laundromat around that time showed Ochoa parking his pickup truck in an alley, walking with what appeared to be a gun in his hand out of the alley while a second man stayed with the vehicle, then moments later running back to the truck and driving off.

The actual shooting was not captured on video. But based on forensic evidence, investigators believe that Ochoa fired at least five shots toward the food truck from around 190 feet away, with at least two shots going through the food truck. Madera told jurors that Gramajo was struck in the upper back, likely while inside the food truck before exiting the vehicle to get help.

Madera told jurors that Ochoa had been aiming at Vladimir Silva, a rival gang member who was at the food truck picking up a meal. But Ochoa’s attorney told jurors that at times during Silva’s police interviews, Silva indicated it was a member of his gang who fired the shots that killed Gramajo.

In a recorded call after his arrest, Ochoa allegedly told his mother, “I killed him,” according to a transcript prepared by prosecutors, adding at another point in the conversation “He (the food truck operator) was innocent” and “They have video, they have everything.” The defense disputed the translation of portions of the conversation, which was in Spanish, claiming Ochoa said he “didn’t kill him.”

Jurors began their deliberations late Thursday afternoon.

Gomez has two prior convictions for drug dealing and possession of a firearm by a felon.

If convicted of the current charges, Ochoa faces up to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

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