'Wish I Could've Done More': Witness Describes Trying To Save Woman's Life After Being Shot By Alleged Stalker
TURLOCK (CBS13) – A witness gave a chilling account of what happened the night a woman's alleged stalker gunned her down in Turlock.
"There were no words or nothing. She yelled out when he hit her with the first shot," said Donald Terrill.
Terrill watched the horrific scene unfold at O'Reilly Auto Parts right next door to where he works at Paul's Food Mart when 22-year-old Juan Francisco Ibarra-Tapia gunned down 22-year-old Zobeyda Esquerra. Terrill says he'd already seen the suspect circling the neighborhood before trapping Esquerra as she waited for her boyfriend, who was working at the auto parts store.
"I didn't see the car for a while but he came back and then pulled in right behind her and then just jammed up right into the parking lot so she couldn't get out," Terrill told CBS13. "I tried to go get my gun out of my truck and he had already noticed me and then shot at her a couple more times, then aimed at me, shot over here and then shot back at the store."
Terrill says he rushed customers to safety inside the store before running to Esquerra to perform CPR.
"It worries me an awful lot because I couldn't sleep the whole night," Tony Bianchi said. "I don't think half of the neighborhood slept good."
Bianchi showed CBS13 surveillance video of his neighborhood where police say Ibarra-Tapia crashed his vehicle and tried to hide until they arrested him — and this was not the first time he was arrested. Livingston police arrested him in October for stalking Esquerra.
"I think there's always room for improvement but Turlock police are handling this investigation very well," said Turlock Police Sgt. Michael Parmley. "They're working very hard, and ultimately, we didn't know that this was going to occur."
Sgt. Parmley says investigators received a search warrant for Ibarra-Tapia's house in Livingston where they confiscated two electronic devices and one of his vehicles. They also confiscated the car he crashed after the shooting as well as the vehicle Esquerra was in.
"I mean, I'm a tough dude, but it gets to me because I wish I could've done more, or if I didn't do the right thing, I don't know," Terrill said.
National Domestic Violence Hotline: 800-799-7233 Hours: 24/7. Languages: English, Spanish and 200+ through interpretation service.
