Gang member who killed man after chase in Riverside convicted of murder

A gang member who fatally shot a 20-year-old man during a car-on-car gun battle that followed a chase that stemmed from the suspect’s aggressive actions to promote his gang was convicted Thursday of first-degree murder and other charges .

A Riverside jury deliberated for nearly two days before finding Steven Daniel Carrillo, 24, of Riverside, guilty of the 2020 murder of Derrion Thomas of Rialto.

In addition to the murder count, jurors convicted Carrillo of attempted murder, charges of murder in aid of a criminal street gang and committing a hate crime under special circumstances, as well as charges of aggravated firearm and great bodily harm.

They acquitted him of one charge of attempted murder.

Jurors began deliberations Wednesday morning after the prosecution and defense made closing statements Tuesday afternoon. The panel announced late Thursday afternoon that it had reached a decision.

Riverside County Superior Court Judge Jerry Yang scheduled a sentencing hearing for June 28 at the Riverside Hall of Justice. Carrillo, who is being held without bail at the Robert Presley Jail, faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The defendant is a documented member of the Eastside Riva, Riverside’s oldest street gang with a presence in the area along the University Avenue corridor.

In late October 2020, Carrillo was staying with fellow gang members in a room at the Motel 6 near the intersection of Iowa and University Avenue, according to briefs filed by the prosecution and defense.

Sharon Mayweather, Isaiah Smith and Thomas all stayed in a room nearby. On Oct. 24, Mayweather was released from the downtown Riverside jail, where she had been held for unspecified reasons, and became intoxicated at the motel, court papers show.

“She was hanging around Mr. Carrillo’s (black Jaguar) parking lot and he told her to move away from his vehicle,” the defense said.

A hostile altercation took place before she returned to her room.

Two days later, on the night of October 26, Thomas and Smith were preparing to drive the latter’s Saturn sedan to pick up food, and Mayweather was walking behind her when she encountered Carrillo in his car, leading to another confrontation, in which she told Smith and Thomas that the defendant had threatened her. They doubted her claims and “led” her into the car, the defense said.

Prosecutors said the suspect was indignant, possibly because he had been publicly challenged by a woman in front of three juvenile gang members. Even though his Jaguar was facing the opposite direction of where the victims were going, he turned around and chased them eastbound on the University, according to the prosecutor’s brief.

Court papers show the victims tried to avoid further contact, racing through traffic lights until they reached the left turn into the parking lot of the Food4Less grocery store at University and Chicago Avenue. Carrillo pulled alongside and shouted profanity-laced challenges, after which Thomas pulled out a semiautomatic pistol and “fired up to 11 shots at Mr. Carrillo,” the defense said.

The Jaguar’s driver’s side window was blown out, but Carrillo and the youths with him were not hit. Smith tried to pull his own gun from his front pocket, but the trigger caught on his pants and he shot himself in the right thigh, according to court documents.

Carrillo drew his own 9mm handgun and fired at the Saturn, striking Thomas twice, including a fatal wound to the chest, prosecutors said. Smith tried to flee when the shots were fired, but crashed into a road sign. He stumbled out of the car and staggered away to get help.

Mayweather was not injured. Thomas got out of the car and collapsed.

Carrillo fled the scene.

Thomas was taken to Riverside Community Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. Smith underwent surgery on his leg and made a full recovery.

Based on security camera footage from the motel and businesses along the university, Riverside Police Department detectives were able to identify the perpetrator, and two weeks later a warrant was issued for his arrest without incident at a home in the 2300 block of Candlestick Way in Perris.

Investigators seized his diary, in which he “bragged about the shooting,” according to the prosecutor’s letter, which said he called the victims “slugs” and wrote that “there is some kind of war going on with Eastside Riva and the Blacks .”

“The defendant commented that he was proud to show the little friends how to gangbang,” the letter said.

The defense accused Mayweather of “provoking the altercation” and further claimed that Carrillo was not the one who initiated the violence that night.

“He explained (to investigators) that Thomas shot first, and that he was only defending himself,” the defense said.

Carrillo had no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.

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