Surviving shooter in double homicide in Pajaro bar fired in self-defense, prosecutors say.

Gunfire was exchanged over the course of three-and-a-half seconds early in the morning on Tuesday, Nov. 21 inside El Torero Bar in Pajaro. While brief, it was a consequential and fatal series of shots—two people were killed, including an employee and the assailant. Two others were injured. 

Monterey County District Attorney Jeannine Pacioni announced that Sergio Ramos Carranza, who turned himself in at the Watsonville Police Department in the evening on Nov. 21, fired in self-defense.

Prosecutors said that 36-year-old Gerardo Hernandez Herrera walked into the bar with a firearm, confronted Carranza and opened fire. Carranza shot back, killing Herrera and striking three other people. 

One was Jenny Carolina Martinez Bejarano, of San Jose, an employee at El Torero. She died from her injuries at Natividad Medical Center. The other two people are expected to make a full recovery. 

Based on the DA's analysis of the circumstances, Carranza will not be charged for the deaths. 

"If a person fires justifiably in self-defense and inadvertently injures or kills an innocent bystander, the law of self-defense applies, and the person does not commit a criminal act," according to Pacioni's announcement.

Carranza was charged with a felony for carrying a loaded firearm in public. He entered a plea of not guilty in Monterey County Superior Court on Tuesday, Nov. 28. He bailed out of the Monterey County Jail on Nov. 30, and is set to next appear in court on Dec. 12.