Man arrested for Costa Mesa shooting rampage gets 21 years, though D.A. argued for more
A man shot in the face by police after a shooting rampage ended in a standoff in Costa Mesa on New Year’s Eve 2019 was sentenced Friday to 21 years in state prison and was ordered to pay an unspecified amount of restitution, prosecutors reported.
In a sentencing brief opposing the court’s offer, however, the district attorney’s office requested the man be sentenced to serve 35 years to life, with another 20 years for discharging a firearm.
Steven Taylor Fernandez, 26, of San Diego, pleaded guilty to multiple felony charges, ranging from attempted murder and attempted murder of a peace officer to discharging a firearm at an inhabited dwelling and criminal threats, court records indicate.
The charges stemmed from an incident that began Dec. 31, 2019, shortly before 3:45 p.m., when Fernandez, armed with two semiautomatic firearms ran through a residential neighborhood near the intersection of Orange Avenue and Palmer Street in Costa Mesa.
Prosecutors reported in a release issued Friday Fernandez had reportedly been upset that a woman he had romantic feelings for had been seeing other men and called a friend, saying he was going to “walk down the street with two guns strapped to his chest and ‘see what kind of trouble he could get into,’” the release indicated.
He further expressed a desire to do “whatever was necessary” to make the police kill him. He fired several rounds into the air and in the direction of at least one bystander, a residence and a nearby vehicle before encountering a Costa Mesa police officer, according to the release.
Fernandez fired four shots at the officer, but the rounds hit only his patrol vehicle. After the officer called for backup, Fernandez fired two more rounds before fleeing the scene. He encountered multiple residents and issued various threats while running across properties and into homes.
He eventually took shelter in a garage, shooting at a homeowner’s vehicle when she later attempted to pull into the structure. He remained inside the garage until a SWAT member shot him in the face after he pointed a gun at two officers.
Steven Taylor Fernandez, 26, of San Diego was arrested Tuesday night after police said a man exchanged gunfire with an officer, shot at a bystander and barricaded himself in the garage of a Costa Mesa home, authorities said.
Orange County Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer described Fernandez’s actions that New Year’s Eve as a “reign of terror” unleashed by a violent criminal with two guns and nothing to lose.
“He tried to repeatedly kill anyone and everyone in his path,” Spitzer said in Friday’s release. “Someone willing to engage in this kind of violence against people he has never met is not the kind of person who deserves a break.”
D.A. spokeswoman Kimberly Edds confirmed Tuesday Fernandez accepted the court’s offered 21-year sentence.
All the latest on Orange County from Orange County.
Get our free TimesOC newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Daily Pilot.
