A judge refused to set any bail on May 7 for three people accused of trying to kill a woman who was found shot three times at Sunset Cliffs on April 12 and was left paralyzed.
The 19-year-old woman, known only as Mya H., who had earlier been kidnapped, was in the trio’s car when one man shot another driver to death in Chula Vista, according to Deputy District Attorney David Grapilon.
San Diego Superior Court Judge Yvonne Campos declined to set bail because special circumstance charges were filed against all three people in which the District Attorney’s office could seek the death penalty if they are convicted of first-degree murder.
Grapilon said Cesar Alvarado, 39, saw Mario Serhan, 59, driving his sport utility vehicle at 12:50 p.m. in Chula Vista on April 11 and apparently thought Serhan was an undercover officer who may have known about Mya’s kidnapping.
Alvarado, whose nickname is “Capone,” saw Serhan and announced he was going to shoot him in the head, according to the prosecutor. Alvarado allegedly fired a shot that went into Serhan’s temple, and he slumped over. Serhan’s vehicle rolled across an intersection and hit a garage at a self-storage business.
Mya was in the back seat – after she had been kidnapped and robbed several days earlier. She was acquainted with Michael Anthony Pedraza, 27, whose nickname is “Monster,” and he was in the car. The driver was Britney Giselle Canal, 29. Canal, whose nickname is “Giggles,” is also known as Britney Llamas. 
Before Mya was shot, she was forced to “accompany the defendants who brought her to various locations in an effort to obtain money and goods from her” and to collect from one of her friends, according to Grapilon’s written motion to deny bail.
Mya was shocked with a stun gun in the car, and then the group drove her to Sunset Cliffs. Canal parked and Pedraza and Alvarado forced Mya out of the car. Grapilon said Pedraza held a gun and ordered her to walk down the Ladera Street stairs to the ocean.
Mya begged Pedraza not to shoot her, and he told her to die “with dignity,” according to Grapilon. She was shot three times. One bullet entered near her ear and traveled down her neck, striking her spinal cord, court documents say. She immediately fell onto the stairs and against a railing.
Pedraza shot two more times and he and Alvarado left her for dead at 2:35 a.m. before walking back up to the car, said Grapilon. She remained there all night and tourists found her at daybreak.
She was taken to a hospital in critical condition and had surgery. Detectives were able to speak with her a week later and she identified all three people as the ones who kidnapped and shot her, said Grapilon.
She is at an undisclosed medical facility and receiving 24-hour treatment. She is able to speak, but requires constant monitoring and care. 
The trio pleaded not guilty to murder, special circumstances, two counts of attempted murder, two counts of kidnapping for robbery, felony assault, and three robberies. 
A status conference will be held May 17 and a May 18 preliminary hearing was set, although it is likely it will be delayed.