A woman was sentenced to 50 years to life in state prison for shooting a 17-year-old fellow gang member to death in a Wilmington alley.
Misty Marie Magallon, 25, shot Richard Rodriguez 20 times with a .40-caliber handgun on Nov. 20, 2011, in the 1000 block of Ronan Avenue, Deputy District Attorney Rebecca Brownstone said.
The motive remains unknown.
Police officers found Rodriguez’s body shortly after residents reported hearing shots fired at 3 p.m. A man who heard the gunfire saw a woman running from the area with a handgun.
Detectives identified Magallon as a suspect because a witness recognized her as someone in the area and because Magallon sported a distinctive “W” tattoo on her neck to display her allegiance to the Westside Wilmas gang. Rodriguez also was a member of the gang, Brownstone said.
Magallon was arrested two days later.
Jurors in Long Beach deliberated for about three hours before finding Magallon guilty of first-degree murder on Jan. 29. The trial took five days. Jurors also found that Magallon used a gun to cause great bodily injury and death, an enhancement that allows for a longer prison sentence.
Rodriguez, who was tagging in the alley at the time he was shot, was not romantically involved with Magallon. His girlfriend was pregnant when he died, but Rodriguez did not know, Brownstone said.
