Victor Roman Dominguez was a 30-year-old Hispanic/Latino man whose life ended in a shooting in south Bakersfield, California, on the evening of May 31, 2019. At approximately 8:02 p.m., Bakersfield police officers were dispatched to the 1900 block of Raymond A. Spruance Court after receiving a report of an assault. When officers arrived, they found Dominguez suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.
Hall Ambulance personnel responded, but he could not be saved and was pronounced dead at the scene. The shooting occurred in a residential area near Panama Lane and South H Street.
The investigation soon focused on three people. On June 12, 2019, the Bakersfield Police Department publicly identified Abraham Lopez, Missy Medina, and Francisco Flores Jr. as suspects in Dominguez's killing. Police said warrants had been issued accusing the three of murder, conspiracy, and gang participation. Authorities also reported that the firearm used in the shooting had not been recovered, and while the suspects remained at large they were described as armed and dangerous. Public reporting did not establish a detailed motive for the shooting, despite the gang-related allegation contained in the warrants.
The first arrest came almost immediately after the suspects were publicly identified. On June 13, police located Francisco Flores in the 700 block of Huskey Drive in Oildale and took him into custody on the outstanding warrants. His position in the homicide investigation soon changed, however. The Kern County District Attorney's Office declined at that point to file criminal charges against Flores in Dominguez's death and returned the case to Bakersfield police detectives for additional investigation. Flores remained in custody on other matters, including a violation of post-release supervision, for which he received a 120-day custodial sentence. Abraham Lopez and Missy Medina remained wanted in connection with Dominguez's killing.
Lopez and Medina remained fugitives for years before authorities arrested them in Mexico in 2023, more than four years after the shooting. The arrests eventually brought the case into court and led to negotiated resolutions rather than murder trials. In August 2026, Lopez and Medina each pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter. As part of the plea agreements, the murder charges against them were dismissed. Prosecutors indicated that the negotiated punishment called for a substantially longer sentence for Lopez than for Medina.
On September 10, 2026, the court imposed the agreed prison terms. Abraham Lopez was sentenced to 21 years in prison, while Missy Medina received an 11-year prison sentence. Court records also required both defendants to pay restitution and fines. Their sentences came more than seven years after Dominguez was found mortally wounded on Raymond A. Spruance Court, closing a major portion of a case that had begun with three suspects, an unrecovered firearm, and two defendants who remained outside the reach of Bakersfield authorities for years.
