Ricardo Catalan-Murga pleaded no contest Jan. 4 to a felony charge in relation to the shooting death of Morgan Hill resident Humberto Cossio, according to authorities.
Catalan-Murga, 18, entered the plea in a scheduled hearing at the South County Courthouse in Morgan Hill. Specifically, he pleaded no contest to criminal conspiracy, with an enhancement for being involved in gang activity, according to Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Erica Cordero.
He also pleaded no contest to a charge of illegally carrying a loaded firearm in a case that is unrelated to the Cossio shooting, according to Cordero. That charge stems from a separate investigation from Aug. 28, 2022.
Cossio, 33, was shot to death July 19, 2021 in the area of Spring Avenue and Monterey Road, according to police.
Catalan-Murga, along with two juvenile suspects, were arrested in October for their alleged involvement in the shooting, authorities said. Information about the cases against the juveniles is not readily available to the public.
Cossio had been doing laundry with his grandmother at the Teddy Bear Wash & Dry laundromat near the intersection of Monterey Road and Ciolino Avenue just before the shooting, according to police reports. The two had walked to the laundromat from their nearby residence.
Cossio was verbally confronted by the group of suspects—first on foot and then from a white Nissan Sentra—while walking between his home and the laundromat before he was shot, says the investigative report.
Investigators think the suspects “stalked” Cossio and killed him because he was an associate of a rival criminal gang, according to police.
