An 18-year-old man took a deal and pleaded guilty to murder in a 2024 shooting at a west Denver gas station, according to court records.
Ronnie Hernandez, who was 16 when he shot and killed 29-year-old Manuel Quintana in June 2025, was sentenced Monday to 40 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder, according to Denver court records.
Hernandez was charged as an adult, but his plea deal dropped five felonies from his case: first-degree murder after deliberation, first-degree murder with extreme indifference, attempted first-degree murder, first-degree assault and illegal discharge of a firearm, court records show. Two violent crime sentence enhancers were also dismissed.
Denver officers responded to the fatal shooting in the 500 block of North Sheridan Boulevard just before 6:30 p.m. on June 8, 2024.
When they arrived, they found Quintana with multiple gunshot wounds, police said. Paramedics took Quintana to the hospital, where he later died. A woman who was with Quintana was also shot but survived, according to the Denver District Attorney’s Office.
Denver police identified Hernandez and his codefendant, Simon Eugene Elijah Gurule, as suspects through automated license plate readers and community tips.
Gurule is 29 years old, according to Denver court records. Police previously released his birthdate as three years earlier, which would have put him at 32 years old.
The 29-year-old’s jury trial is scheduled to start in January, according to court records. He faces the same five felonies that Hernandez was originally charged with and, if convicted of first-degree murder, will be sentenced to life in prison.
Sign up to get crime news sent straight to your inbox each day.
Related Posts:
- ‘They were insulting us’: Oakland man gets 7 years for killing man in drive-by shooting News OAKLAND — A local resident has been sentenced to seven years in state prison for killing a man in a 2023 drive-by shooting, a homicide apparently motivated by a spontaneous argument and a thrown beer can. Jose “Peche” Estrada-Avalos, 40, pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter in the shooting death…
- ‘They were insulting us’: Oakland man gets 7 years for killing man in drive-by shooting News OAKLAND — A local resident has been sentenced to seven years in state prison for killing a man in a 2023 drive-by shooting, a homicide apparently motivated by a spontaneous argument and a thrown beer can. Jose “Peche” Estrada-Avalos, 40, pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter in the shooting death…
- US man arrested in Scotland and convicted of Utah rape gets at least 5 years in prison News By HANNAH SCHOENBAUM and MEAD GRUVER SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Utah judge on Monday sentenced a man who appeared to fake his death and flee the United States to avoid arrest on rape charges to anywhere from five years to life in prison. Related Articles What to know…
- Former Bay Area cop involved in 2022 fatal shooting receiving more than $60,000 annually in retirement benefits News Michael Dietrick, the former Sonoma County sheriff’s deputy who shot and killed burglary suspect David Peláez-Chavez in 2022, will receive $5,226 per month as part of lifetime retirement benefits approved earlier this year through the county’s pension system, The Press Democrat has learned. The fatal shooting sparked recurring protests and…
- Former Bay Area cop involved in 2022 fatal shooting receiving more than $60,000 annually in retirement benefits News Michael Dietrick, the former Sonoma County sheriff’s deputy who shot and killed burglary suspect David Peláez-Chavez in 2022, will receive $5,226 per month as part of lifetime retirement benefits approved earlier this year through the county’s pension system, The Press Democrat has learned. The fatal shooting sparked recurring protests and…
(Visited 1 times, 1 visits today)