MONTEREY COUNTY (BCN) — A 24-year-old man was sentenced today to life in prison for a shooting outside a taqueria that killed three people and injured four others in Salinas in 2013, the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office said.
Giovanni Pacheco was sentenced to three terms of life in prison without the possibility of parole, prosecutors said.
He was also sentenced to 75 years to life for using a firearm to carry out three murders and 35 years and eight months in prison for shooting four people, prosecutors said.
On Aug. 5, 2013, Pacheco was eating and drinking alcohol with his family at Taco’s Choice, according to prosecutors.
At one point he went outside the eatery and argued with three men over two women who were with him, prosecutors said.
People inside the taqueria exited the business as the altercation escalated, according to prosecutors.
Pacheco then took out a .45-caliber firearm and shot the three men and four other people in the crowd, prosecutors said.
The deceased victims were 28-year-old Edgar Salinas, 25-year-old Alejandro Hernandez and 22-year-old Victor Ortiz, according to prosecutors.
Pacheco, who was 21 years old at the time, was arrested the day after the fatal shooting, prosecutors said.
Earlier this year, the 24-year-old man pleaded guilty to charges of special circumstances for multiple murders and waived his right to appeal the charges, prosecutors said.