On May 9, 2019, at approximately 7:44 a.m., Merced Police Department officers responded to a residence in the 400 block of Beckman Way for a home invasion robbery.

When officers arrived on scene, they contacted a female resident. The female stated that two males had forced their way into her residence.

The two male’s came into the residence armed with handguns, and immediately grabbed a small child who was in the living room. One of the suspects put a gun to the child’s head.

The two suspects then proceeded to demand money and other valuables. The female turned over several items, and the suspects then fled in a white Jeep.

Once Detectives began to follow up on the case, they were able to identify the suspects as 21-year-old Christian Alejandro Esparza and 23-year-old Andrew Enrique Garcia.

Garcia and Esparza are residents of Hayward California. As detectives continued to follow up on the case, they obtained search and arrest warrants for Garcia and Esparza.

On June 27, 2019, Merced Police Detectives, members of the Gang Violence Suppression Unit and M.A.G.N.E.T. served multiple search warrants in Hayward.

During the service of the warrants both Esparza and Garcia were taken into custody.

Merced Police are asking anyone with any information regarding this crime to contact Detective Kalvin Haygood at (209) 385-6998. The public can send information via anonymous text messages to police department by dialing “TIP411” (847411) and including the word “Comvip” as the “keyword” in the text message.

(Merced Police Press Release)