He was wearing a red T-shirt in a Pasco parking lot. His accused killer preferred blue.

A fatal shooting outside a Pasco grocery store in early 2015 came down to the difference in colors — red and blue — between two people, a prosecutor said Wednesday.

Juan C. Melgoza, 42, was proud to be a member of the Norteños.

The Pasco man rode around town on a red bicycle, with red painted tires and a red bandana hanging from the seat. The bike was with him Feb. 4, 2015, as he sat at a table in front of Fiesta Foods.

Chris Pedroza-DeSantiago was grocery shopping with his girlfriend that evening when he saw Melgoza. Pedroza-DeSantiago was a member of Mexican Pride Sureños, who wear blue.

The two rivals got into an argument, Deputy Prosecutor Dave Corkrum said.

Pedroza-DeSantiago and his girlfriend left the store, but he returned a short time later with a fellow gang member and yelled “MPS” a few times for his gang name. He then fired a number of shots from a .40-caliber pistol, Corkrum told a Franklin County jury.

One bullet hit Melgoza in the back and traveled through his body, damaging his heart and lungs before exiting out his torso.

“Mr. Melgoza was dying from the point that bullet entered his body,” Corkrum said. “He collapses, and within minutes he’s dead.”

A senseless act because of colors resulted in the death of one man, he said.

Attorney Norma Rodriguez says her client did have words with Melgoza in the store parking lot, and agreed to “get down,” or fight.

Pedroza-DeSantiago, now 22, was doing what guys do when they meet up with members of an opposite gang. However, there was never any intent on his part for Melgoza to die, she said.

That plan wasn’t good enough for fellow MPS member and then 15-year-old Abraham Barajas. Eyewitness testimony and store surveillance video will place the gun in Barajas’ hands when Melgoza was shot, Rodriguez said.

“If we believe everything that Mr. Corkrum just told you that he believes he’s going to present at trial, we don’t really need to be here because he’d be guilty of those charges,” she told jurors in her opening statement. “The problem with the story that Mr. Corkrum has portrayed to you is that is maybe one of nine stories that Abraham told.”

Did Pedroza-DeSantiago do something wrong that evening, Rodriguez asked.

“Yeah, he ran with (Barajas). … That is not a crime,” she answered herself.

Corkrum and Rodriguez told Superior Court Judge Alex Ekstrom, outside the presence of the jury, that they agree the shooting of Melgoza was gang-related.

The stipulation, which is being read to the jury, replaces the need for testimony about Melgoza and Pedroza-DeSantiago’s gang ties.

Pedroza-DeSantiago is on trial in Franklin County Superior Court for first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and first-degree unlawful possession of a firearm.

He was convicted of drive-by shooting as a juvenile and was not allowed to own or be in control of a gun.

His trial started Monday, and a jury of five men and nine women was seated late Tuesday. The panel includes two alternates who will be picked just before deliberations.

Barajas, who turns 18 on Aug. 28, went with Pedroza-DeSantiago to the grocery store to “take care of business,” according to Corkrum.

Barajas originally was charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. He struck a deal with prosecutors to reduced charges in exchange for his against his co-defendant.

After Barajas sat in the Juvenile Detention Center for more than two years, prosecutors decided to resolve his case instead of waiting for Pedroza-DeSantiago’s trial to happen.

On July 6, Barajas pleaded guilty in Franklin County Juvenile Court to first-degree assault and first-degree rendering criminal assistance. He received a sentencing range of almost four years to four years and eight months — a deal that will have him released by his 21st birthday.

Barajas, who already has been moved to a state juvenile institution, is expected to take the witness stand next week.

Corkrum told jurors they will hear “unbelievable testimony” that Pedroza-DeSantiago and Barajas actually argued over who would shoot Melgoza.

“Mr. Pedroza ends up winning the argument,” then approached the victim in the parking lot and shot him, he said. The gun has never been found.

The prosecutor reminded jurors that people can have different versions of the same event because of how they saw it and how it affected them.

But he pointed out that witnesses definitely saw two people approach Melgoza and then flee, and that Pedroza-DeSantiago later told his girlfriend, “I just dropped that fool,” when calling for a ride.

Rodriguez said jurors will hear from witnesses who said the shooter was “a smaller, thin person,” not her 6-foot-3-inch client.

Melgoza was “up to no good” while hanging outside the store. At one point he called his two rivals “just a bunch of kids,” and that angered Barajas, who told police in his first of several narratives that he went back and shot Melgoza.

Investigators didn’t want to believe the truth, because what they really wanted to hear was that Pedroza-DeSantiago was responsible for the murder, the defense lawyer said. Once police got the version of events they wanted from Barajas, the interview ended and Pedroza-DeSantiago became the lead suspect while Barajas got a deal, she said.

This story was originally published August 16, 2017 at 6:57 PM with the headline "He was wearing a red T-shirt in a Pasco parking lot. His accused killer preferred blue.."