A man who shot and killed his elderly victim during what prosecutors say was a failed carjacking in Bay-Ho was sentenced Friday to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Francisco Xavier Villegas, 24, was convicted by a San Diego jury of first-degree murder, plus a special-circumstance allegation of murder in the commission of an attempted carjacking.
The special-circumstance finding triggered the sentence of life without parole.
Jose Quirin, 79, was shot as he sat in his parked SUV on May 3, 2022.
San Diego Superior Court Judge Albert Harutunian said that he didn’t believe Villegas intended to kill Quirin, though the judge said Villegas fired toward him when the victim didn’t comply with his demands.
Following the shooting, San Diego police said the suspect fled, while Quirin drove about a mile to a McDonald’s restaurant on Mission Bay Drive north of Garnet Avenue in Pacific Beach.
Employees flagged officers down around 5:15 a.m. and Quirin was taken to a hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead.
Villegas, who was 21 at the time of the shooting, soon was arrested on a probation violation, and days later, was booked on suspicion of murder.
