A Superior Court judge on Wednesday upheld murder charges against two men accused in a 2021 shooting that killed two Santa Barbara teenagers.

Four people were wounded in the Jan. 3, 2021, shooting on the 1220 block of Liberty Street in Santa Barbara, and two of them died of their injuries: Angel Castillo, 17, and Omar Montiel-Hernandez, 18.

Three Carpinteria men were arrested and charged with murder in April 2021 for the shooting, which investigators allege was gang-related.

The defendants are alleged members of the Carpas street gang of Carpinteria, and two of the shooting survivors reportedly told police they were Eastside gang members.

After a preliminary hearing Wednesday, Superior Court Judge Michael Carrozzo ordered Angel Eduardo Varela, 28, and Oscar Martin Trujillo-Gutierrez, 27, to stand trial.

A third defendant, Emilio Perez, was 17 at the time of the shooting, and defense attorneys have appealed the decision to transfer his case from juvenile court to adult criminal court.

The three men are members of the same family.

Prosecutor Tate McCallister called three law enforcement investigators as witnesses during the hearing for Varela and Trujillo-Gutierrez, who attorneys referred to as Trujillo.

In a preliminary hearing, a judge hears evidence and decides if defendants will go to trial on criminal charges.

District Attorney’s Office investigator Eric Davis testified about his interview with one of the surviving shooting victims, and reviewing video surveillance of the Lower Eastside neighborhood.

Multiple videos confirmed the 5:49 p.m. time of the shooting since shots were audible – four of them in “rapid succession, one right after the other,” he said.

The shooting itself was not caught on video, he said.

A blue Jeep in the area was identified as a suspect vehicle, and investigators discovered it was registered to Varela, Davis said. Police also tracked down Varela’s gun, he said.

Investigators used search warrants to get cell phone location information about him, Trujillo and Perez that showed the three phones “moved together” from Carpinteria to Santa Barbara and back again on the night of the shooting, Davis said.

Defense attorneys asked about other suspect vehicles, including a light-colored sedan seen in surveillance video.

Footage showed four people get out of the car and chase one of the shooting victims a few minutes before the shooting, a few blocks from the shooting location. Davis said they yelled something about the Westside gang, as heard on a video.

Davis said investigators never identified the people associated with the sedan, and that the car went onto the freeway and left the area before the shooting, according to video footage.

Investigators allege Perez was driving the Jeep around the Eastside neighborhood and dropped off Varela and Trujillo, who approached the group on Liberty Street on foot.

Varela pulled a gun, shot at them, and wounded four people, according to police. Two of the shooting victims died of their injuries.

Varela and Trujillo fled the scene on foot and met up with the Jeep, investigators testified.

“We clearly have what was a planned, coordinated attack into rival (gang) territory,” McCallister argued after his last witness finished testifying.

Evidence does not point to a fist fight that got out of control, he said. The defendants planned a drop-off and an “extraction” a few blocks away after the shooting, he said.

Trujillo’s attorney, Mauro Quintero, said his client had no plan or intent to kill, and was not armed.

Varela’s attorney, Jose Romero, said there is circumstantial evidence but no direct evidence that Varela was the shooter.

Investigators “chose to focus on the defendants” rather than “what I believe are the true assailants,” the Westside gang members associated with the sedan, he said.

Romero said Emilio Perez, his client’s brother, was telling the truth when he said they were just planning to fight, and that there was no plan to kill.

The evidence presented to the court is “still weak at best,” he said.

The judge, Carrozzo, held both men to answer the murder charges and scheduled the next hearing for Dec. 11.

Both are being held in Santa Barbara County Jail custody without bail.