Santa Barbara County District Attorney announced on Thursday that a jury has found Angel Varela and Oscar Trujillo-Gutierrez guilty of two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of premeditated and deliberate attempted murder stemming from a deadly gang-related shooting in Santa Barbara.
The verdict was delivered on January 15. Jurors also found true special circumstances that the defendants committed multiple murders.
The jury also determined that Varela personally discharged a firearm, causing death.
The convictions stem from a January 3, 2021 attack on the 1200 block of Liberty Street, where officials say Varela, Trujillo-Gutierrez, and a juvenile drove from Carpinteria to Santa Barbara and opened fire on a group of people, killing two men and injuring two others.
A juvenile involved in the attack was previously convicted in Juvenile Court in 2024 on the same charges.
The jury also convicted both defendants of assault likely to cause great bodily injury for a jailhouse attack in September 2022 while awaiting trial.
Sentencing is scheduled for March 24. Both defendants remain in custody without bail and face life in prison without the possibility of parole.
