Chico cab driver assaulted as gun is fired in taxi. One passenger dies, another arrested
A shooting inside a taxi in Chico that involved an assault on a cab driver resulted in one passenger being found dead and another arrested, sheriff’s officials said.
Shortly before 4 a.m. Sunday, a taxi company owner called 911 and told dispatchers he had been assaulted by two people in the area of Lone Pine Avenue in Chico, the Butte County Sheriff’s Office announced in a news release Monday.
Deputies arrived and spoke to the owner, who was driving the cab during the reported assault. He was injured during the attack and taken to a local hospital. The Sheriff’s Office did not indicate the extent of his injuries.
As deputies responded to the reported assault, dispatchers began receiving calls reporting a male prowling homes near Lone Pine Avenue, south of Chico River Road.
Deputies arrived there and found a dead man, later identified as Victor Hernandez, on Lone Pine. Hernandez, 28, of Chico was found on the street.
The deputies found another man, later identified as Jose Huerta, 22, of Willows in Glenn County, in the backyard of a nearby home.
Detectives later determined the taxi driver picked up Hernandez and Huerta in the Chico area and started driving them to an unincorporated area of Chico. Before arriving at their destination, Hernandez brandished a handgun and fired the weapon multiple times inside the taxi, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Hernandez and Huerta also assaulted the driver before getting out of the taxi while the vehicle was still moving, sheriff’s officials said.
Detectives believe Hernandez was injured during the assault on the cab driver, or while trying to get out of the vehicle, or both, according to the Sheriff’s Office. An autopsy will be conducted to determine cause of death.
During their investigation, detectives also found evidence that Huerta entered a trailer behind a Lone Pine Avenue home and stole items, sheriff’s officials said.
Huerta was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon resulting in great bodily injury, burglary and violating probation.
The Sheriff’s Office asked anyone with information about this incident to call detectives at 530-538-7671.
