Julian Gonzalez and Andrea Vazquez were sitting on the trunk of his parked Honda Accord at Penn Park in Whittier, hanging out and talking when a white pickup truck with tinted windows pulled up in front of his car.

“That’s when I heard shots,” he said.

Gonzalez turned around and saw 19-year-old Vazquez lying on the ground. She was bleeding above her neck, close to the face, he said.

Gonzalez testified about what happened to them on Aug. 20, 2023 during Tuesday’s preliminary hearing for Gabriel Sean Esparza , the Whittier man accused of kidnapping Vazquez, trying to rape the Fullerton College student and killing her.

Her body was found Aug. 21, 2023 lying facedown in a field off Alessandro Boulevard and Merwin Street in Moreno Valley. She wore only a black top with her pants and und

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