A man who carried out a trio of apparently random shootings, killing one and injuring three teens, was sentenced Friday to 86 years to life in state prison.
Jaime Ernesto Gonzalez, 24, opened fire on seven separate victims during a shooting spree in Encanto, Bay Terraces and Spring Valley that unfolded on the night of Jan. 27, 2023 over the course of just over an hour, according to prosecutors.
Police said the victims were targeted at random, with Gonzalez driving up to each group, getting out of his car and beginning the attacks.
At the final shooting scene, Gonzalez both shot and stabbed Raul Rojas Valdez, 32, who died, prosecutors said.
Police found Gonzalez about a half hour after the killing on Paradise Valley Road in his parked vehicle, which matched the description of the shooter’s car.
Investigators said they found an unserialized “ghost gun” inside the car, ammunition in the center console, a bloody knife on his waistband and blood on the center of the steering wheel.
A jury convicted Gonzalez convicted last month of first-degree murder and five counts of attempted murder. He was sentenced to 51 years to life for the murder, plus five consecutive sentences of seven years to life for the attempted murder counts.
At Friday’s sentencing, San Diego Superior Court Judge Joan Weber said that it appeared Gonzalez “wanted to kill as many people as he possibly could.”
The judge said, “This case should frighten every member of this community,” citing the ease with which Gonzalez was able to obtain a ghost gun to carry out the shooting spree.
Evidence in the trial showed Gonzalez reached out to three separate people over social media on Jan. 26 and Jan. 27 and likely obtained the weapon from one of them sometime on the day of the shootings.
“We have one dead young man and it’s shocking to me that we don’t have six other murders here,” the judge said.
Prosecutors said Gonzalez first opened fire on a man on Dovecrest Court in Spring Valley at around 8 p.m. while the victim was helping his neighbor with her car. Gonzalez drove up to the man and opened fire from about 10 yards away, but the bullet missed the man and struck a house, according to testimony.
About 20 minutes later, prosecutors said Gonzalez shot at a group of teenage boys outside the 62nd Street trolley station.
Metropolitan Transit System surveillance footage captured the shooter’s vehicle driving past the boys as they walked along Akins Avenue. The car then made a U-turn, the driver got out and started shooting at the teens, who took off running.
Three of the boys, all of whom were 15 years old at the time, were wounded by gunfire, according to testimony.
At around 9:15 p.m., the shooter’s vehicle passed two men standing near an electrical box on Manzana Way, made another U-turn and stopped next to the men, prosecutors said.
One of the men, Rojas, was shot five times in the back, Deputy District Attorney Melissa Mack said. After he was shot, Gonzalez then went back to his car and retrieved a knife, then stabbed the victim over 10 times, according to the prosecutor.
After the sentencing, San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan issued a statement saying, “We hope (Gonzalez’s) conviction and sentence brings a measure of justice to the victim’s family and the community.”
