SANTA CRUZ — Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Stephen Siegel sentenced a 24-year-old man to 18 years in prison related to a late-night shootout.
Christian Meza-Reyes was among a group of defendants charged with attempted murder in a Sept. 26, 2022 shooting on the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf. The confrontation between Meza-Reyes and his friends and two others left a 17-year-old hospitalized with an injury to his leg. Four co-defendants in the case struck earlier plea deals and Meza-Reyes narrowly avoided trial in July by also negotiating a plea deal that dropped all but one charge — shooting at an inhabited dwelling with use of a firearm — with the Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s Office.
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Between time served in the Santa Cruz County Jail and good-time credit, Meza-Reyes has already served nearly 2 1/2 years of his sentence.
During testimony shared during the case’s preliminary hearing in September 2023, Santa Cruz Police Department personnel pieced together a timeline involving Meza-Reyes and his friends, in two vehicles, leaving the wharf after drinking and socializing following a community fundraiser. Drivers in the two vehicles stopped near a parked Jaguar with two men inside and reportedly confronted them related to their believed gang affiliation before shooting into the car.