Inmate killed at Kern Valley State Prison; makeshift weapons found at attack scene
An inmate was killed Thursday at Kern Valley State Prison during an attack by three other inmates, correctional officials said.
Louis J. Bachicha was assaulted about 6:30 p.m. in a recreational room at the 2,415-man prison just west of Delano. Bachicha, 34, was pronounced dead a half-hour later, the state prison system reported.
Authorities did not say how Bachicha was killed, but they noted that two makeshift weapons were found in the area where he was attacked. Prison officials and Kern County's district attorney and coroner's offices are investigating the homicide.
Bachicha had been serving a life sentence since 2009 after being convicted of murder and attempted murder in Los Angeles County.
A member of the Bassett Grande gang, Bachicha was 19 when he and another man challenged two teenagers walking along a La Puente street on Easter Sunday in 2008, according to an appellate decision that summarizes the evidence in his case.
“Big Bassett!" Bachicha yelled at the pair, brandishing a handgun from the white Ford Bronco he was riding in. "F— peanuts," he added, apparently believing they were members of Puente-13, a rival gang.
Bachicha opened fire, hitting Richard Lopez, 17, in the head. Another bullet grazed the back of the girl with whom Lopez was walking.
Lopez was not in a gang, detectives said after his death. He had been enrolled in a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Explorers program at Bassett High School in La Puente.
Prison authorities identified the inmates suspected of killing Bachicha as Victor Madero, Ricardo Nava and Edgar Castillo. All three are from Los Angeles County and are serving life sentences for crimes including carjacking and murder, officials said.
Madero, 45, has been in prison since 2010. A member of the White Fence gang, he was convicted of attempting to murder a man whose stepson had been shot and paralyzed by other White Fence members. After the man testified against his stepson's assailants, Madero called him a "f——- snitch" and tried to kill him.
Nava, 35, was convicted of murdering Edwin Catalan, 22, in East Hollywood in 2007. Nava had targeted Catalan, who he believed had killed someone from his gang, according to an appellate decision filed in his case. Nava also belonged to White Fence.
After spotting Catalan outside a market on the corner of Fountain and Westmoreland avenues, an associate of Nava's shot Catalan to death. Nava then kicked the dead man in the head, the decision said.
Castillo, 35, has been serving a life sentence for carjacking and robbery.
A member of the Alley Tiny Criminals, a South Los Angeles gang, Castillo approached a Ford Explorer waiting at a red light and asked the female driver for money, according to an appellate decision that details his conviction.
When she balked, Castillo dragged her out of the car, struck her on the head with a gun and drove off in the SUV. He was arrested six days later after running a red light in the stolen vehicle.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
