AURORA | A man convicted of attempted murder for shooting an Aurora Central High School student in front of the school in 2010 has been sentenced to 35 years in prison.
Luis Guzman-Rincon, 20, received the sentence last week in Arapahoe County District Court.
In August, Guzman-Rincon was convicted of six counts of attempted murder after a week-long trial.
After his prison term, Guzman-Rincon, who officials say is in the country illegally, will likely face deportation.
Police say Guzman-Rincon, a gang member, shot 16-year-old Karina Vargas in December 2010 during a dispute with other gang members. Vargas was an innocent bystander, police said.
According to court testimony, at the time of the shooting, Vargas was standing in front of Central a few minutes after class let out showing her new puppy to a group of friends.
That’s when two carloads of gang members — one full of 18th Streeters, the other H2K — pulled up and started jawing back and forth. A single bullet ripped through the crowd, striking Karina in the back, leaving the teen paralyzed for life from the waist down.
Police say Guzman-Rincon, an 18th Streeter known in the north Aurora neighborhood as “Luigi,” fired a pistol into the crowd that day because he was still mad about a July 2010 fight with rivals from H2K. Members of the gang, which stands for Hard 2 Kill, had hit Guzman-Rincon in the head with a brick, leaving a sizeable lump and bruise on his forehead.
But Guzman-Rincon’s lawyer pointed to inconsistencies in the witnesses’ statements, including varying descriptions of the shooter, where he was seated, and how many people were in the car. They also said some witnesses, including Vargas and another who had known Guzman-Rincon for years, didn’t pick him out of a photo lineup.
Prosecutors said Guzman-Rincon denied any involvement in the shooting, but police found gunshot residue on a sweatshirt that matched the one he was wearing the day of the shooting. Also, prosecutors said he made incriminating statements during jail calls after his arrest.