| For Immediate Release Case # 11CF1199 July 5, 2011 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Chief of Staff Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami |
ADDITIONAL CHARGES FILED AGAINST WOMAN FOR SHOOTING-MURDER OF HUSBAND AND ATTEMPTED MURDER OF 9 AND 16-YEAR-OLD SONS
SANTA ANA – The Orange County District Attorney’s Office filed additional charges today against a woman accused of murdering her husband and attempting to murder her 16 and 9-year-old sons in the family’s Tustin Ranch home. Annamaria Magno Gana, 41, unincorporated Tustin, is now charged with one felony count each of special circumstances murder by lying in wait, two felony counts of attempted murder, and sentencing enhancements for the personal discharge of a firearm causing death and the personal discharge of a firearm causing great bodily injury. If convicted, she faces a sentence of life in state prison without the possibility of parole. Gana is being held without bail and will be arraigned on the new charges today, Tuesday, July 5, 2011, in Department C-55, Central Justice Center, Santa Ana, where she was scheduled to appear for a pre-trial hearing.
At approximately 4:30 p.m. on May 8, 2011, Gana is accused of arming herself with a firearm and shooting a bullet into the ceiling of a bedroom in her Tustin Ranch home. When the defendant’s 72-year-old husband Antonio Potenciano Gana and their 16-year-old son John Doe #1 ran into the bedroom in response to the gunshot, Gana is accused of turning the firearm toward her husband and murdering him by shooting him in the chest.
The defendant is accused of intending to also murder her two sons. She is accused of shooting at John Doe #1 as he turned and attempted to escape from the bedroom. The victim was shot in the arm but was able to get out of the home and call 911 on his cell phone. The defendant’s other son, 9-year-old John Doe #2, witnessed his mother holding the firearm and was able to wrestle it away from her and take it outside.
The Orange County Sheriff’s department, who investigated this case, arrived at the scene and arrested Gana. She was transported to the hospital to be treated for minor injuries sustained while shooting the firearm.
The defendant’s two sons are currently in the care of a family member.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Ebrahim Baytieh of the Homicide Unit is prosecuting this case.
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