Youth pleads in 2022 shooting death of Albuquerque Academy student at a house party
Apr. 29—A 21-year-old man pleaded guilty to four felony charges Tuesday in the 2022 shooting death of an Albuquerque Academy student at a West Side house party.
Jesse Florencio Parra faces six to 12 years in prison for his role in the shooting death of 18-year-old Jada Gonzales, a prosecutor said Tuesday.
Parra pleaded guilty before 2nd Judicial District Judge Courtney Weaks to shooting at a dwelling or occupied building, conspiracy and two counts of tampering with evidence. His sentencing hearing has not been scheduled.
Two of Parra's co-defendants already have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms in Gonzales' killing.
Prosecutors told a judge that Parra was one of several teenagers who showed up uninvited at a party in the 5200 block of La Bajada NW after learning about the party on Snapchat.
The homeowners kicked out the group after they pulled out guns and posed for a video, prosecutor Jolanna Macias said at a hearing for a co-defendant.
Angry about being expelled from the party, the group fired gunshots from an AR-15-style pistol out a car window at the house as they drove away, Macias said.
One of the gunshots penetrated several walls and fatally struck Gonzales in the abdomen.
Gonzales was a senior at Albuquerque Academy and had received a four-year scholarship to attend college at the time she was killed.
One of Parra's co-defendants, Isaiah Espinosa, 18, was sentenced in September to 29 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to firing the fatal gunshot into the house from a car. Espinosa pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, tampering with evidence and conspiracy in Gonzales' killing.
A second co-defendant, Cruz Medina, 18, was sentenced in January to 24 years in prison after pleading guilty to first-degree murder, conspiracy and tampering with evidence in her killing.
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