A 13-year-old found guilty in the fatal shooting of a North Texas Sonic employee in May was sentenced to 12 years in juvenile detention Tuesday, the teen’s defense attorney told the Star-Telegram.
In October, the teen, whose name has not been released due to his age, was found delinquent of murder — the equivalent of guilty in juvenile court — in the shooting of Matthew Davis, 32,at the Sonic in Keene in Johnson County, about 30 miles south of Fort Worth.
He will serve his sentence in juvenile detention before being transferred to prison when he becomes an adult.
His aunt, 18-year-old Ashley Gomez — also known as Ashley Marmolejo — was arrested Nov. 1 in the shooting and faces a charge of manslaughter. Court document say she handed her nephew a gun and told him “go” just before the victim was shot..
Davis was found with multiple gunshot wounds on May 13 at the Sonic in the 300 block of South Old Betsy Road in Keene. Davis, who was a father of a 10-year-old, died a few hours later at a local hospital.
On the evening of May 13, a red pickup truck pulled up to the Sonic when a man, the teen’s uncle — 20-year-old Angel Gomez Ocana of Fort Worth — exited the vehicle, began urinating in the parking lot, and was acting disorderly, according to police.
Another Sonic employee told police that she told Gomez Ocana that there was a restroom on the premises, but he didn’t respond. Davis, who was sitting nearby, told Gomez Ocana, “Hey, did you hear her?” according to an arrest warrant affidavit obtained by the Star-Telegram.
David approached Gomez Ocana when the teen’s uncle said, “I don’t give a (expletive),“ the affidavit states.
After telling Gomez Ocana that he was being disrespectful, Gomez Ocana took off his shirt and asked Davis if he wanted to fight. Davis and Gomez Ocana began to fight when the teen, who was 12 at the time, got out of the red pickup truck with an AR-style weapon and shot Davis multiple times, according to the affidavit.
The teen and his uncle both left the scene in the truck, the witness told police.
Gomez Ocana returned to the Sonic hours later and was arrested and charged with murder. He told police he stopped at the Sonic with his nieces and nephew to order food. He urinated before ordering and said that Davis “came at him yelling at him, but he couldn’t just stop,” according to the affidavit.
He also told police that the gun his nephew used to shoot Davis belonged to Gomez Ocana.
Ashley Gomez also returned with her husband, Gomez Ocana, to the Sonic, where they were both interviewed by police.
In a search of the aunt’s phone, police found text messages between her and another witness who was also in the red pickup truck during the shooting “discussing what to say between (the teen involved in the shooting) and Angel,” the affidavit says.
Police also seized the teen’s phone and found a screenshot of a text message from the teen to a friend saying his uncle had gotten into a fight “and then my aunt gave me tha gun and I was supposed to shoot tha ground and I in accident shot thaa person.”
According to a statement by Gomez, she admits to handing the weapon to the teen and she said she meant for him to “go out and stop the fight by scaring the guy.”
The teen has been in juvenile detention since being detained.
His sentencing comes after his hearing was postponed twice. His attorney, Seth Fuller, told the Star-Telegram that the teen “was put in an impossible situation,” and believes he won’t re-offend if given probation. He’s concerned about the juvenile being kept in detention for so long.
