A 19-year-old man accused of shooting a Moreno Valley resident during a confrontation was charged Tuesday with assault with a firearm.
Juan Carlos Cardenas was arrested Friday after the alleged attack that occurred shortly after 2 that morning in the 14000 block of Vinehill Street in Moreno Valley.
He pleaded not guilty to the firearm assault count, with sentence-enhancing gun and great bodily injury allegations, during an arraignment before Riverside County Superior Court Judge David Gunn, who scheduled a felony settlement conference for Sept. 19 at the Riverside Hall of Justice.
Cardenas is being held in lieu of $50,000 bail at the Byrd Detention Center in Murrieta.
According to sheriff’s Sgt. Jeremy Harding, the defendant and victim, whose name and age were not released, were involved in an undisclosed dispute, and Cardenas allegedly pulled a handgun and shot the other man in the stomach.
Friends of the victim loaded him into their car and drove him to nearby Riverside University Medical Center, where he underwent surgery.
Harding alleged that Cardenas fled the scene and hid in the area of Mars Court and Victor Drive, where he was arrested without incident hours later.
The defendant has no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.
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