A United Parcel Service driver and the man accused of shooting him to death as the victim sat in his brown work truck both worked at the company and lived in Aliso Viejo and seemed to know each other, but police say they still are not clear on what led to the killing.
Irvine police arrested Rhean Fontanoza, 46, after surrounding his silver pickup truck in Orange for around two hours on Thursday afternoon, May 16, eventually firing tear gas inside and sending in a K-9 to help force him out.
Sgt. Kim Davies, an Irvine police spokeswoman, said on Friday that detectives had not yet interviewed Fontanoza. But police were able to determine that he knew the victim, 50-year-old Expedito Cuesta De Leon, who was shot around 3 p.m. Thursday in an industrial area near Chrysler and Fleming.
“They are acquaintances,” Davies said. “We just don’t know the extent to which they knew each other.”
On Friday, mourners left a small memorial of flowers and candles on the grass outside of an office building near where De Leon was killed. Next to a bouquet sat a UPS hat. A collared UPS shirt was laid out on the grass above the flowers.
Trucks for UPS and FedEx were a continual presence driving on Chrysler, a street lined with neat landscaping that bisects the area’s office parks and warehouses.
Fun-loving and friendly, De Leon was a fixture among the people who work in the cluster of office buildings and sprawling corporate lots that make up the area around the shooting scene.
The neighborhood was De Leon’s regular route, said several people who got to know him over the years who came out to talk with one another or to leave flowers at the memorial.
To them, De Leon was a big, colorful personality lighting up what otherwise would be just another day surrounded by drab office buildings.
“He’d make noises,” said Jonathan Lagman, who saw De Leon all the time. “Like bird calls, just to announce his presence.”
Lagman said he also lives in Aliso Viejo, and he would occasionally see De Leon out on hiking trails.
One day, De Leon spotted him hiking, and called out to him, inviting him to go grab a beer and watch a football game on the spot.
“I don’t even really know this guy,” Lagman said. “He was just that friendly. I can’t even imagine having another UPS guy.”
John Llanes, 40, was in a mountain biking group with De Leon. He works near the shooting scene and stopped there Friday after learning his friend was the person killed.
The day before, Llanes was at work and heard police helicopters circling the area. “I didn’t know what was going on over here. I didn’t know it involved somebody I knew,” he said.
Llanes said De Leon was a family man — he was married with two children. De Leon had just recently posted on social media about a family trip they took to Europe.
Llanes said De Leon was expecting a grandchild on the way soon. De Leon had also posted recently about having worked for UPS for 27 years.
“He’s a good man,” Llanes said. “I can’t imagine why this would happen to him.”
Jacqueline Brown, 54, worked with De Leon at UPS for decades before she retired a few years ago. Both drivers; they parked their trucks next to each other every day at the Aliso Viejo UPS hub where they worked.
Brown said she and De Leon would count down the days until they could retire. She said De Leon would talk all the time about moving to the Philippines where he could build a big house and live “like a king” off his pension.
“He would tell me, ‘You should come, too!’” Brown said. “I’d tell him, ‘I don’t speak the language, you have to help me.’”
Brown looked forward to her interactions with De Leon, a pick-me-up in a workday where she’d otherwise rarely see her coworkers.
“I’m shocked, I’m just so shocked,” Brown said. “This is just senseless.”
As she spoke, a man in a pickup truck pulled up alongside her.
“You guys knew him real well, right?” he asked.
“I worked over there,” he said, pointing. “I knew him, too. Really nice guy.”
Fontanoza was taken to a hospital after he was apprehended, Davies said. He was not being treated because of the tear gas, but was admitted “for medical issues that have nothing to do with the arrest,” she said.
A pair of Irvine SWAT vehicles pinned the silver pickup on Santiago Canyon Road in Orange just after 4 p.m. Thursday, while officers on foot surrounded the truck from a hillside above.
The authorities found the suspect with the help of witness statements and surveillance footage from at least one business.
Around 6:15 p.m., police shot tear gas into the cabin and used a K-9 to help detain the suspect.
Police said Fontanoza is married, apparently without children. Property records indicated he has lived in Aliso Viejo since around 2007.
Staff writer Nelson Espinal contributed to this report.
