Oswaldo Dachuna guilty of murdering man outside Kenner business

A Jefferson Parish jury on Monday (Nov. 18) deliberated less than ½-hour in finding Oswaldo Dacunha guilty of killing a man outside a Kenner convenience store, two hours after he drank beer with the victim beside the business.

Dacunha, 61, of Kenner, was convicted as charged of second-degree murder in the Sept. 3, 2022, death of Alejandro Quiroz, 43. Dacunha also was convicted of obstruction of justice, for eliminating the 9mm semiautomatic pistol he used to shoot Quiroz, evidence that could have further linked him to the crime.

Quiroz and another man were loitering beside the business at the intersection of Loyola and Clemson drives when at about 4 a.m., Dacunha shot him three times.

Kenner Police Department detectives amassed business and residential surveillance videos from the area to help identify Dacunha as the shooter. Through the videos, the detectives determined that about two hours before the shooting, Dacunha arrived at the business on a motorcycle and used a debit card to make at least two purchases in the store, including beer and beef jerky.

Dacunha drank at least one beer with Quiroz before departing on his motorcycle. About two hours later, Dacunha returned riding a bicycle and ducked beside a commercial trash receptacle behind the business. He retrieved a pistol from his backpack, chambered a round and stuffed the weapon in his pants waistband.

He then walked up to Quiroz and shot him in the chest, face and head before pedaling away.

“Those are the actions of a man who wants to kill,” Assistant District Attorney Molly Love told jurors in closing argument Monday.

Quiroz died a short while later at University Medical Center.

The videos detectives obtained showed the shooter wore the same clothes he was wearing two hours earlier, when he arrived at the business on a motorcycle. Lacking a name, Kenner police issued a press release that included the shooter’s image taken from videos and posted it on social media platforms. Detectives received two tips, both identifying Dacunha.

The detectives then researched Dacunha’s name and found a prior arrest with a booking photograph, confirming he was the shooter. They learned he had been living in a backyard shed in the 3200 block of Arkansas Avenue in Kenner. They obtained a warrant for his arrest.

Dacunha was arrested in Vinton, La., on Sept. 9, 2022, after police there investigated a suspicious suspect complaint. They found Dacunha lying on the ground next to his motorcycle.

In his pocket was the debit card he used to make the purchases at the Kenner convenience store two hours before he shot Quiroz. In his cell phone, they found photographs of motorcycles, bicycles and of the image of himself that Kenner police released to the public in the effort to identify the shooter.

Dacunha’s DNA also was recovered from a beer bottle police recovered from feet away from Quiroz’s body.

Dacunha, who represented himself without legal representation, or pro se, told jurors he was falsely identified as the shooter. He said he was “at the wrong place, at the wrong time.”

Assistant District Attorney Leo Aaron praised the work done by the two Kenner police detectives who identified Dacunha as the killer. “Arthur Coll and Peter Foltz did great work in bringing him here before you,” Aaron told jurors in closing argument.

“This was not a case of mistaken identity,” Aaron told jurors. “He was not at the wrong place, at the wrong time. He chose the place, he chose the time.”

The jury that was seated last week returned with its verdict at 3:40 p.m., Monday. Judge Nancy Miller of the 24th Judicial District Court is scheduled to sentence Dacunha on Dec. 2.

Assistant District Attorneys Leo Aaron and Molly Love prosecuted the case.