Perris Brothers Accused of Holding up and Killing Man Outside Perris AM/PM in 2021
RIVERSIDE (CNS) – Jury selection is slated to conclude this week for the trial of two brothers accused of killing a man during an attempted robbery outside a Perris convenience store, as well as robbing the victim’s friend and beating and robbing another man nearby.
Bryan Ortega, 21, and Edgar Sanchez Ortega, 25, both of Perris, allegedly gunned down 25-year-old George Torres of Moreno Valley in 2021.
The brothers are each charged with first-degree murder, robbery, attempted robbery and a special circumstance allegation of killing in the course of a robbery. Bryan Ortega alone is charged with firearm assault and sentence-enhancing gun and great bodily injury allegations.
Riverside County Superior Court Judge Jason Armand started jury selection for the defendants’ trial earlier this week at the Riverside Hall of Justice. The process was expected to conclude sometime next week.
Bryan Ortega is being held in lieu of $1 million bail at the Smith Correctional Facility in Banning, and his elder sibling is being held on the same amount at the Byrd Detention Center in Murrieta.
According to a trial brief filed by the District Attorney’s Office, the defendants allegedly went on a robbery spree that began shortly after 1 a.m. on Nov. 26, 2021, when they spotted a man walking through a field along Wells Street in Perris and decided to take all of his belongings.
Bryan Ortega got out of his brother’s four-door sedan and accosted the victim, shouting, “What’s up, homie?” the brief said.
The victim, identified in court documents only as “M.F.,” later told sheriff’s investigators that he didn’t know the person but was immediately frozen with fear when the man walked up to him, racked the slide on a 9mm handgun and “pushed the barrel against the side of his head,” court papers said.
“Bryan said, `Strip off all your clothes,”‘ the brief stated. “M.F. hesitated … and when he did that, Bryan struck him with the gun on the side of the head and said, `Get naked. I’m for real. I’ll kill you.’ M.F. therefore complied. Bryan pistol-whipped him again after he took his clothes off, and the victim went down to his knees.”
Ortega grabbed the man’s clothes and mobile phone, which doubled as a wallet, and jumped back into his brother’s car, then the pair sped away, prosecutors allege. M.F. was able to walk to a Circle K not far away and seek help from the clerk, who summoned sheriff’s deputies.
Only 20 minutes later, the defendants drove to an am/pm at 4040 Perris Blvd. and began inhaling drugs or vapors via balloons while sitting in Edgar Ortega’s vehicle, according to the prosecution. The men saw Torres pull into the parking lot in his Honda sedan and decided to rob him and his male friend, identified only as “J.N.,” court papers allege.
After J.N. got out of the passenger side of the Honda and went into the convenience store to purchase cigarettes, Edgar Ortega backed his sedan into the parking stall immediately adjacent to the victim’s car, according to the brief.
When J.N. returned and sat back down in the Honda, Bryan Ortega stepped out of his brother’s vehicle, pulled his 9mm handgun and told J.N. and Torres, who was at the wheel, “Give me everything you got,” the brief alleged.
J.N. immediately complied, handing over his cigarettes and cash, but Torres refused to comply, prompting Ortega to demand that the victim remove his sunglasses and hand them over. However, the young man balked and instead grabbed a pistol that he’d hidden in the Honda and fired at Ortega, who “then began shooting into the car multiple times,” according to the brief.
Torres was hit by several bullets and died at the scene. J.N. was not wounded. The defendants fled as witnesses called 911, according to the prosecution.
Central Homicide Unit detectives reviewed storefront security surveillance camera images that morning and quickly identified the brothers as the alleged assailants, also linking them to the assault and robbery of M.F., culminating in the men’s arrests without incident at a Santa Ana hotel the same day.
According to prosecutors, Edgar Ortega has been involved in at least three alleged assaults on fellow inmates since he was jailed. Those incidents, however, have not resulted in charges. Neither he or his younger brother have documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.
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