Coachella gang 'senior member' shot his cousin in the back of the head, police say

A highly placed member of the Varrio Coachella Rifa street gang has been charged with attempted murder for allegedly shooting his cousin in the back of the head out of suspicion that he was working with law enforcement.

Fernando Carlos Lopez, 44, of Coachella, has pleaded not guilty and is being held on $2 million bail, according to county court records.

Indio police spokesman Sgt. Dan Marshall said Tuesday that the shooting occurred a little after midnight on Nov. 4 and the victim suffered life-threatening injuries but was released from the hospital a few days after the shooting. Police said in a court filing that if Lopez is permitted to make bail, the victim “will be in eminent danger.”

“The circumstances reported to officers indicate the attack was unprovoked,” wrote Detective Jesse Marin in court records. “It is believed the victim was targeted due to being a VCR 53 gang member in ‘bad standing’ due to electing to become classified as ‘PC’ (protective custody) – usually working with law enforcement.”

It is unclear if the victim was actually working with police. Protective custody is a jail booking classification which separates an inmate from the general population. However, not everyone given the protective custody classification is an informant.

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On Monday, Detective Marin filed court documents asking to double Lopez’s bail from $1 million to $2 million. The high bail is necessary, the detective said, not only because of the risk to his victim, but because Lopez is a “direct family member” to a local bail bonds agency. A judge approved the request later that day.

Marin also wrote in court documents that Lopez is a verified member of VCR 53, a subset of Varrio Coachella Rifa, a dangerous Coachella street gang. Authorities have described Varrio Coachella Rifa as an “umbrella gang” that oversees six to eight smaller gangs including 50 Boys, Coachella Tiny Locos and chapters named after Avenue 52 and Avenue 53. Lopez, who goes by the gang moniker ‘Fernie,’ is a “self-admitted ‘OG’” – or senior member – of VCR 53, Marin wrote in court records.

Lopez has prior convictions for fraud, theft, burglary, domestic violence and drunk driving with a child in his car. This case appears to be his first involving violence tied directly to VCR.

Riverside County law enforcement officers have been targeting Varrio Coachella Rifa over the past two years, hoping to use a gang injunction to force gang members to leave Coachella. The gang has about 340 members, of which law enforcement has identified about 300 and 124 are named in court records.

The injunction, which was made permanent by a judge in June, establishes a “safe zone” spanning most of the city where gang members’ rights are severely limited. Under the injunction, it is an arrestable offense for Varrio Coachella Rifa members to do normally legal things – like wear gang apparel, show gang tattoos, flash gang signs, gather in public or violate a court-ordered 10 p.m. curfew.

Lopez is not the first VCR member to be arrested for a major crime this year, either. In May, one gang member Moises ‘Lil Ganster’ Garcia, was charged in 12 separate armed robberies. Later that same month, another documented gang member, Gildardo Davila, allegedly shot a Coachella sheriff’s deputy during a foot chase. Davila led desert police on a week-long manhunt before being captured by authorities in Mexico.

Reporter Brett Kelman can be reached at 760 778 4642 or by email at brett.kelman@desertsun.com. You can also follow him on Twitter at @TDSbrettkelman.