Bye-bye, banger

The recent sentencing of a Biggs man for his role in a drive-by shooting is proof that gang bangers don’t have to pull the trigger to face stiff penalties.

Including a five-year gang-enhancement charge, Alejandro Antonio Magana will be spending close to 11 years in state prison, according to the office of Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey. Interestingly, the 22-year-old gang banger was not the shooter, but rather the driver in a 2009 drive-by shooting that seriously injured a woman.

Magana, who was known as “Swerve,” reportedly drove his truck several times though Biggs as passengers yelled gang threats. The DA’s office says the convicted gang banger turned his lights off on the last pass, while a passenger fired at least three rounds at a house.

The victim was hit in the chest, but survived the gunshot after being life-flighted to Enloe Medical Center for a punctured lung and broken bones.