NORWALK – With a trial date approaching on Monday, Richard Elizondo, formerly of Pico Rivera, settled for $2.3 million from Brightonwood Townhomes and TSG Independent P.M., Inc. on Wednesday at Norwalk Superior Court, his attorney announced.
Elizondo, 37. and his son, Richard L. Elizondo, 17, were victims of a shooting on January 15, 1998. The pair were in the garage of their Pico Rivera townhome when Ismael Michael Medina, who was burglarizing the home looking for guns he could later sell, was startled and opened fire.
The shooting left the elder Elizondo, a former Maywood reserve police officer, a quadriplegic and confined to a wheelchair. Elizondo’s son was shot in the arm and chest and has since fully recovered from his wounds.
Medina, a 24-year-old Rosemead gang member, was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences, each with an additional 25-year prison term for the attempted murder of the Elizondos.
Elizondo took Brightonwood Townhomes and TSG Independent P.M. Inc., the property management company to court because of their “failure to take adequate security measures to prevent crimes from occurring.” said Elizondo’s attorney, Gregory Patton.
Patton said that although the townhomes are within a 6-foot-high electric gated community, it’s easy for burglars to climb over the fence, as Medina did, because the top of the gate is flat instead of having spikes.
“The California law requires property owners to take reasonable steps to prevent foreseeable third-party crime,” Patton said.
