TEHACHAPI — A man and woman were arrested on Tuesday for allegedly threatening another man with a gun in the parking lot of a Tehachapi shopping center.
Steven Michael Orozco, 21, was booked into the Kern County Sheriff’s Central Receiving Facility on charges including felony cruelty to a child, felon in possession of a firearm, possession of a loaded firearm, obstructing an officer, destruction of evidence, conspiracy to commit a crime and vandalism. His accomplice, 21-year-old Fayrene Lydia Wheat, was also arrested on charges including felon in possession of a firearm, felony cruelty to a child, destruction of evidence, and conspiracy to commit a crime.
According to the Tehachapi Police Department the incident began on when officers were flagged down by an 18-year-old man in the 200 block of East “I” Street at around 1:30 p.m. on Jan. 21. Police said the man told them that he was passed by a silver Mitsubishi before it flipped around and stopped beside him. He told officers at that point Orozco spoke and pointed a small handgun at him before the car quickly pulled away.
Approximately seven minutes later, a different officer spotted the Mitsubishi in the parking lot of a pizza place in the 600 block of West Tehachapi Boulevard. When officers approached the suspects, the driver of the car, Wheat, ran and disposed a loaded semi-automatic handgun in a bathroom trash can inside the restaurant. Officers detained Wheat and Orozco.
Orozco is being held on $85,000 bail and Wheat is being held $55,000 bail.
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Tehachapi News: Man arrested for allegedly making threat with handgun
