Man Sentenced to 15 Years in 2017 Medford Drive-By Shooting

Medford, Oregon- Raul Meza-Solorio has been sentenced to 15 years in the Oregon Department of Corrections after pleading guilty to first-degree manslaughter in the 2017 drive-by shooting death of 23-year-old Christian Miguel Barajas, the Jackson County District Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday. He will also serve three years of post-prison supervision following his release.

The plea and sentencing mark the resolution of a complex, years-long investigation into a fatal shooting that occurred the evening of November 22, 2017, in the 300 block of Chestnut Street in Medford. Meza-Solorio, born April 18, 1996, was initially charged with second-degree murder but ultimately pleaded guilty to the lesser charge after prosecutors consulted with the victim’s family and weighed the risks of taking the case to trial.

The 2017 Shooting

Shortly after 5:42 p.m. on November 22, 2017 — the night before Thanksgiving — Medford Police responded to a “shots fired” call in a residential neighborhood off Chestnut Street. The first detective arrived on scene within two minutes and found a man lying face-down on the sidewalk. Witnesses at the scene shouted about a “black Dodge Caravan” fleeing the area. Medford Fire personnel arrived soon after and pronounced the man dead. He was later identified as Christian Barajas.

An autopsy revealed that Barajas had suffered two gunshot wounds. Investigators recovered two bullets from his body, both consistent with having been fired from either a 9mm or .38-caliber handgun. A firearm was found zipped inside an interior pocket of Barajas’ sweatshirt.

Detective Jim Williams of the Medford Police Department was assigned as the lead investigator. Surveillance footage from the area showed Barajas speaking with the driver of a dark Dodge minivan shortly before the shooting. While the footage supported the timeline and presence of a minivan at the scene, it did not capture the shooting itself or reveal the vehicle’s license plate.

Early Leads and Dead Ends

A juvenile female witness, who was dating Meza-Solorio at the time, was first interviewed in December 2017. She told detectives she had been “couch surfing” at a residence on Chestnut Street, where she lived with Meza-Solorio. During that time, she hosted guests who brought her drugs, including methamphetamine. She disclosed that an AK-47 belonging to Meza-Solorio had been stolen from the home during one of these visits. Her statement was supported by a police report Meza-Solorio filed regarding the stolen firearm.

The witness told detectives Meza-Solorio was angry and felt betrayed by the theft. However, she did not mention the shooting at that time. Meza-Solorio was interviewed shortly after but made no statements or admissions. A search warrant was executed at his home, where various types of ammunition — including 9mm rounds — were found. No firearm was recovered. A 9mm Luger shell casing was located inside his minivan.

In a follow-up interview in November 2018, the same witness told police she did not pull the trigger or drive the van on the night of the shooting but declined to identify who did. Despite mounting suspicions that Meza-Solorio and the witness were involved, the case lacked sufficient evidence to proceed with prosecution.

A Break in the Case

Years later, after Detective Williams retired, the case was reassigned to Sergeant Garcia in 2021 and then to Detectives Ford and Baglietto in 2022. Their continued efforts to revisit old leads eventually led them back to the same witness, now an adult.

In October 2023, during a re-interview with Detective Baglietto, the witness revealed a fuller account of the events leading up to the shooting. She confirmed that she and Meza-Solorio had been in a relationship between June and November of 2017 and regularly used methamphetamine together. She recalled a violent episode in which Meza-Solorio strangled her after discovering his AK-47 had been stolen. She said she blacked out from the assault.

Shortly after that incident, she said she and Meza-Solorio left their house in his dark Dodge minivan and drove to the Woodland Heights Market. There, they saw Barajas outside the store. Meza-Solorio approached him and said, “What’s up, I heard you have my gun.” Barajas reportedly responded, “I don’t know what you’re talking about, fool, I don’t have no gun or nothing.”

Meza-Solorio returned to the van and made a U-turn, reclined the passenger seat — where the witness was sitting — then rolled down her window and reached across her body to fire three to five shots at Barajas. The witness said Meza-Solorio then drove them to his father’s house in White City. They never returned to their home on Chestnut Street. The next day, the pair disposed of the gun, but the witness could not recall exactly where, and it was never recovered.

Her detailed recollection of the event aligned with surveillance footage collected in the original investigation.

Grand Jury Indictment and Plea Agreement

On November 8, 2023, the case was presented to a Jackson County grand jury, which returned an indictment against Meza-Solorio. Prosecutors later offered a plea deal in consideration of the challenges they faced going to trial.

At sentencing, Senior Deputy District Attorney Lucy Durst explained that the resolution followed lengthy discussions with the victim’s family and reflected the significant risks associated with relying on a single witness. That witness had been a juvenile and a methamphetamine user at the time of the shooting, and had endured an abusive relationship with the defendant, which could have compromised her testimony.

The case was prosecuted by Senior Deputy District Attorneys Lucy Durst and Samantha Olson.