Esau Hernandez-Montes and Alberto Ortiz Sandoval charged in Bloomington drive-by

Esau Hernandez-Montes

​Esau Hernandez-Montes, 19, and Alberto Ortiz Sandoval, 25, were both charged today with 18 felonies, including attempted first degree murder, in relation to the drive-by shooting in Bloomington last Wednesday.

According to the criminal complaint, shortly before 10 p.m. on March 31, someone inside a Chevy Blazer fired shots at four people standing outside a house on Portland Avenue near 80th Street. No one was hurt.

Minutes after the shooting, Hernandez-Montes and Ortiz Sandoval were stopped in a Chevy Blazer that matched a description given by the victims. With them were three others, all juveniles, and a .22 rifle. Police say all five men were members or associates of the Vatos Locos gang.

The suspects told police that the shooting was a reprisal for incident in Minneapolis earlier in the day, when members of the Surenos 13 gang smashed the Blazer's back window with a baseball bat. Police say the targets of the shooting are associated with the Surenos 13 gang.

According to the police complaint, one of the juveniles fired four shots out of the truck before the rifle jammed. Hernandez-Montes took the rifle and cleared it. Ortiz Sandoval passed Hernandez-Montes more ammunition. He reloaded the rifle and handed it back to the juvenile, who fired several more shots.