Man accused of shooting at deputy waives hearing

Jeff Lehr, The Joplin Globe, Mo.
·2 min read

Mar. 2—NEOSHO, Mo. — An Arizona man waived a preliminary hearing Monday on charges that he shot at a Newton County deputy from a fleeing SUV on Interstate 44 with drugs and two children in the vehicle.

Daniel Duran, 34, of Phoenix, waived the hearing in Newton County Circuit Court on single counts of first-degree assault, armed criminal action and resisting arrest and two counts each of first-degree child endangerment and possession of a controlled substance.

Associate Judge Christine Rhoades set March 9 for the defendant's initial appearance in a trial division of the court.

The charges stem from a Newton County deputy's attempt Dec. 11 to stop a vehicle with Arizona plates on Missouri Highway 43 because it matched the description of a vehicle involved in an armed robbery.

According to a probable-cause affidavit, the female driver would not stop and turned on to I-44 headed east with the deputy in pursuit and the vehicle's male passenger firing a handgun at him several times.

The driver, Gabriela Espinoza, 24, of Mesa, Arizona, finally was forced to stop when the SUV ran over a tire spike strip and a front tire went flat.

The affidavit states that the deputy issued several commands for the driver to step out of the vehicle with her hands held out before she complied. As she was being detained, Duran purportedly got out and tried to flee on foot but was caught by deputies. He was taken to a hospital for treatment of a gunshot wound believed to have been self-inflicted.

The document states that Espinoza's two children, ages 8 and 1, were found in the back seat of the vehicle.

A small amount of marijuana was located in a holiday tin inside the SUV as well as three Oxycodone pills on the front passenger seat and 41 more pills in a bag that Duran purportedly dropped on the ground as he fled. Some suspected heroin also was discovered on some foil in the vehicle.

According to the affidavit, Duran later told investigators that he did not recall any of that which happened because he was too high at the time. But Espinoza purportedly admitted having been with Duran during a prior robbery in Oklahoma.

She has a hearing on an array of similar charges scheduled today in Newton County Circuit Court.

Jeff Lehr is a reporter for The Joplin Globe.