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Written by: Elizabeth Larson

Published: 09 February 2012

KELSEYVILLE, Calif. – On Wednesday the preliminary hearing for a Kelseyville man accused of assaulting his estranged wife and shooting her male companion last September got under way.

Andrew James Serrano, 39, is facing attempted murder, mayhem, assault with a firearm, spousal abuse, making terrorist threats, false imprisonment and special allegations for use of a firearm for the shooting of William Turner and an assault on Lesa Serrano that occurred on Sept. 10, 2011, at the Big Valley Road home the Serranos shared before they separated the previous April.

Serrano, wearing a jail jumpsuit and sitting alongside defense attorney Mitch Hauptman, was in Judge Richard Martin's Department 2 courtroom for the Wednesday proceedings.

Turner took the stand during the day of testimony, recounting how he was at the Big Valley Road home helping Lesa Serrano move furniture when Andrew Serrano arrived.

In the confrontation that followed, Turner said he was facing Serrano through a window in a door when Serrano raised a .40-caliber handgun and fired.

“At that point I couldn’t believe he was going to shoot me,” said Turner, who remembered looking down and seeing a 1-inch hole in his chest before reaching up and pulling the bullet’s metal jacket from the wound with his fingers.

In testimony on Wednesday it was alleged that about a month before the incident Andrew Serrano – who had restraining orders against him from his wife as well as two of her friends – had a friend buy him the .40-caliber Glock handgun and ammunition recovered from the scene.

The shooting also took place just two months after Andrew Serrano allegedly rammed his wife’s SUV with his pickup in Lakeport after circling a restaurant where she and two friends were eating, as Lake County News has reported.

In January 2011 Andrew Serrano allegedly had begun sending Turner texts and leaving angry voice mail messages telling him to stay away from his wife and children and accusing Turner of having an affair with Lesa Serrano, which Turner denied on the stand.

Sheriff’s officials recount arriving at the scene

Ahead of Turner, Deputy District Attorney Alan Upton called to the stand lead investigator Sgt. Mike Curran, Deputy Gary Frace and Sgt. Andy Davidson, who were the first to arrive on scene and have been credited with saving both Turner’s and Lesa Serrano’s lives.

It was Turner who called 911 to report the shooting. When Frace and Curran got to the house they found Andrew Serrano with a handgun. Curran and Frace drew their weapons and ordered Andrew Serrano to drop his weapon and get on the ground, which he did.

While Frace covered Andrew Serrano, Curran handcuffed him. As he was doing so, Andrew Serrano uttered a spontaneous statement, according to Curran, “Something like, 'He came at me.'”

Once Andrew Serrano was securely handcuffed, Frace would go to look for Turner, who was lying on his back in the garage doorway, and Lesa Serrano, who had a head injury and appeared to be in shock.

Frace said Lesa Serrano was bleeding badly from the head. She told him that Andrew Serrano had hit her with the pistol, punched her with his fist, attempted to strangle her and was dragging her to his vehicle when deputies arrived.

When Davidson arrived, he requested a REACH air ambulance, which flew Turner to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. Curran, meanwhile, placed Andrew Serrano in the backseat of Deputy Carla Hockett's patrol car.

Hockett later transported Andrew Serrano to the sheriff's main office in Lakeport, where he refused to speak to a detective without his attorney, and instead was taken to the jail and booked. He was placed on suicide watch, according to statements in court.

During Curran’s testimony – the longest of the day – he said Lesa Serrano told him she and her husband had separated sometime around April 2011. The day of the shooting, she had asked Turner to go with her to pick up some furniture for her two sons as well as some other items.

Curran, as lead investigator, also was present during the surgery when a doctor pulled the bullet from Turner’s chest.

The surgeon told Curran that Turner had suffered “a significant injury” that was life-threatening. Curran called the wound a “through and through” shot to the lung, with the bullet going through the lung before lodging against a rib. Damage to the lung resulted in a “significant amount” of internal bleeding.

The surgeon told Curran that Turner was “a lucky man.”

Shortly after the shooting, Curran said Rob Brown – a county supervisor, bail bondsman and friend of Turner's – arrived at the home after receiving a phone call about the shooting. Curran said Lesa Serrano had refused to go to the hospital by ambulance, and Brown offered to drive her to the hospital.

In a followup interview Curran conducted with Brown on Sept. 12, 2011, Curran said Brown stated that Andrew Serrano's family had asked him to be the bail bondsman in the case, and he agreed, believing he would be able to keep tabs on Andrew Serrano and prevent him from “making a poor choice,” Curran said.

Andrew Serrano was required to check in with Brown daily to comply with the terms of his bail. Brown told Curran that he had warned Andrew Serrano to stay away from Turner due to concerns about the potential for a physical confrontation, as Andrew Serrano had told him he believed Turner and his estranged wife were having an affair. At the same time, Andrew Serrano also reportedly had a girlfriend.

Brown told Curran that he received a text message from Andrew Serrano the night before the shooting, stating he was not going to be at the high school football game in which his son was playing because he was having “an anger management issue” relating to Lesa Serrano. That same weekend Andrew Serrano was scheduled to have visitation with his two sons.

In addition to asking a friend to purchase the handgun and ammunition – telling the man he wanted the gun because of a recent break in at the Big Valley Road residence, which Curran said wasn’t found in sheriff’s records – Andrew Serrano had reportedly initiated an unusual conversation with a neighbor at the Lake County Fair, just a few weeks before the shooting.

The neighbor told Curran that Andrew Serrano approached him and said he might be hearing some gunshots around the Big Valley Road home in the coming weeks, but not to worry about it.

Another friend of Andrew Serrano’s told Curran that Serrano had texted him on at least two occasions with pictures of handguns and references to Lesa Serrano, with one of the texts saying she was going to disappear.

There also were indications that Andrew Serrano was using some kind of tracking to follow Lesa Serrano, as he always seemed to know where she was at, said Curran.

No direct evidence of GPS or other tracking was found, although Curran said Andrew Serrano’s friend who reported receiving the handgun texts said that everything Curran would want to know about that would be found on a computer belonging to Andrew Serrano which, by the time of the shooting, had been removed from the main home.

Recounting the confrontation

Turner, in his testimony, called Lesa Serrano his “best friend,” and recounted how she had come to him to ask about dealing with divorce. She also shared with him that her husband was becoming more violent, and was keeping her up arguing during the night.

Andrew Serrano had left him a phone message in the middle of the night in January 2011, telling Turner to stay away from Lesa Serrano. Turner said he called Andrew Serrano back the next day to tell him he had no idea what he was talking about.

“Obviously you don’t know me and you don’t know Lesa,” he said he told Andrew Serrano.

He said he would get another warning text from Andrew Serrano in May 2011.

At Lesa Serrano’s request, Turner took his pickup and a trailer and went to the Big Valley Road residence last Sept. 10 to move her sons’ dressers and beds and pick up some other household items.

Andrew Serrano arrived as Turner was in the middle of moving a dresser. “The family dog started whimpering and was cowering, hiding in the corner,” Turner said.

Turner said Andrew Serrano slid out of his truck, got into the back seat and reached for something. Lesa Serrano went out to talk to him and asked him to leave.

“At that point he spun around and slammed a clip into the gun,” said Turner.

Lesa Serrano ran into the house, hysterical. “I grabbed her by the shoulders and told her, ‘You need to calm down so we can make it through this,’” said Turner.

While he sent Lesa Serrano to hide in the home’s detached garage, Andrew Serrano came around to the back porch. “We were standing face to face,” said Turner, who was standing behind a door but looking through the door’s window at Andrew Serrano.

Andrew Serrano kept telling Turner to leave. Turner said he told Serrano he needed to move his truck first. Serrano repeated himself three times before raising the gun.

Turner leaned to the left, Serrano lowered the gun, repeated that he needed to leave, and after Turner said he would leave Serrano allegedly raised the gun again, this time shooting from about 18 inches away, according to Turner.

After he realized he had been shot, Turner said at first it felt like a pinch, he felt very warm and his arm was numb. Having done a tour in Desert Storm in the Marines, Turner said he knew he needed to stay calm and control the bleeding.

Andrew Serrano went at Turner again, telling him he shouldn’t be there, before going to find Lesa Serrano.

Turner used his cell phone to call 911, and then tried to find a weapon to help defend Lesa Serrano, who he heard screaming.

“I was scared out of my mind that he was just going to pull the trigger and shoot her right there on the spot,” Turner said.

He said Andrew Serrano had his estranged wife by the hair, and she was reaching up to push his hand and the gun away. Turner briefly passed out in the garage as he was trying to find some implement to use to defend them.

Help finally arrived, and Turner could hear the deputies telling Andrew Serrano to get down on the ground. He remembered Davidson – who he’d known since childhood – trying to stop the bleeding from his chest.

Turner said he was taken to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, where he was put into a security wing for his protection. While there he woke up to find a strange man standing by his bed. “All I could see was Andy at that point,” he said, with the duty nurse subsequently locking down the wing.

He said he continues to have anxiety and physical issues, and has worked little in his profession as a contractor since the shooting. Coaching wrestling also has been a challenge.

Turner is expected to continue testifying on Thursday morning. Upton estimated the remainder of the hearing could wrap up by the end of the day.

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