Mother Killed in Front of 3 Children

LANCASTER — As their three young children watched, a 38-year-old Lancaster man recently released from a jail sentence for spousal battery, fatally shot his estranged wife Friday then barricaded himself in his restaurant for about four hours before surrendering to authorities, Los Angeles sheriff’s deputies said.

Ufracio “Frank” Gutierrez was shot in the shoulder by his own pistol when an employee at his restaurant in the 42100 block of Sierra Highway tried to wrestle him to the ground, Deputy Diane Hecht said. Gutierrez was being treated at a local hospital late Friday and will be booked on suspicion of murder, Hecht said.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Richard Dinsmoor said Gutierrez was arrested for felony spousal battery on April 4 and pleaded guilty days later. His wife asked the sentencing judge for leniency, and Gutierrez drew a 30-day sentence.

Gutierrez was released from county jail eight days early due to jail overcrowding, Dinsmoor said. But even if he had served his complete sentence, Gutierrez could not have been held past Wednesday.

The drama Friday began when Gutierrez drove his wife, Alma Gutierrez, 34, of Rosamond and their three children, ages 4, 5 and 12, to Frankie’s Mexican Restaurant about 12:30 a.m., Hecht said.

Gutierrez parked, stepped out of the car, walked to the passenger side where his wife sat, and shot her several times, Hecht said.

Mike Gillard, 42, who was staying in a motel next door, said Gutierrez’s 5-year-old daughter was sitting on her mother’s lap when her father fired.

“I saw the woman slouched over in the car, and I heard him reloading,” Gillard said.

The cook then emerged from the restaurant--which was not open for business--and tackled Gutierrez, Gillard said. The two men grappled and the gun went off, wounding Gutierrez.

When Gutierrez regained control of the pistol the cook fled, Hecht said. Gutierrez led his children into the restaurant and waited for deputies to arrive.

The deputies found Alma Gutierrez still alive in the bloodied passenger seat of the car. Exposing themselves to possible fire from the restaurant, they pulled the woman from the car and rushed her to a nearby hospital, the deputy said.

Alma Gutierrez died as she reached the hospital, Hecht said.

When deputies ordered everyone to leave the restaurant, only Gutierrez’s children emerged, Hecht said. Witnesses said one of the blood-soaked girls wore her father’s wedding ring.

“They had blood all over them and they were traumatized,” neighbor Pam Rice told reporters.

Deputies then called the department’s SWAT and Crisis Negotiation teams and settled in for a four-hour standoff. Eventually, negotiators speaking to Gutierrez by telephone persuaded him to surrender peacefully, Hecht said.

Neighbors said the Gutierrezes recently broke up and that Alma Gutierrez was trying to divorce her husband.