Richard Flores, a 25-year-old man, was sentenced Friday, Dec. 12, to 44 years to life in prison for fatally shooting Jefferson Diaz, a 30-year-old man, in Anaheim back in 2021.
Flores’ defense attorneys said the incident involved a dispute over a vehicle purchase.
Flores was convicted on Oct. 23, of second-degree murder.
Flores fatally shot Diaz with an AR-15-style rifle at the 1700 block of West Glenoaks Avenue, about a quarter-mile west of Euclid Street, before midnight, on April 16, 2021.
Prosecutors said that Flores went looking for Diaz in an alley. When Flores found Diaz at his garage, the victim repeatedly asked Flores to “put the gun down.”
Diaz tried to snatch the rifle away, but then Flores “stepped back and fired the rifle one time at the victim’s midsection and killed him,” according to the prosecutors.
Flores fled the scene at around 5:50 am.
Davis was transported to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Anaheim police SWAT conducted yard-to-yard searches along with Fullerton police to help locate Flores. Around 40 police officers were involved in the search.
Anaheim police used a helicopter to surveil the nearby areas and used a loudspeaker to instruct nearby Anaheim and Fullerton residents to stay in their homes, alerting that an armed suspect was on the loose. Surrounding schools were placed on lockdown for the duration of the search.
At 10:12 a.m., police apprehended Flores in the 600 block of South Brookhurst Road in Fullerton.
Flores allegedly hid the weapon used in the shooting near his uncle’s home in Pomona, according to the prosecutors.
The defendant’s attorney said that the shooting was an accidental discharge. That argument failed and Flores is now looking at a very long prison sentence.