One of two men convicted in the shooting death of an 18-year-old in Point Loma during a botched robbery was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus 53 years to life.
Angel Garcia, 23, was found guilty along with co-defendant Armando Alvarado, 24, for the Nov. 25, 2020, shooting death of Eduardo Salguero.
Garcia and Alvarado were previously convicted and sentenced in 2023 to life without parole for Salguero’s killing, but an appeals court overturned their convictions because it ruled jurors were improperly allowed to hear evidence that the defendants were gang members.
They were convicted again in a second trial. Garcia was sentenced Wednesday morning, while Alvarado awaits sentencing next month.
According to the state appellate panel’s ruling, Salguero sought to purchase a ghost gun and drove to meet with the supposed sellers in a parking lot behind the Vons supermarket in a shopping center on Midway Drive.
Salguero and his friend arrived in a car, at which point the defendants entered the vehicle and demanded money from the victims at gunpoint. Salguero was shot in the back while behind the wheel of the car, which ended up crashing into a retaining wall. Salguero’s friend ran from the scene and was shot at, but wasn’t struck.
Cellphone evidence related to the gun sale, DNA evidence on items found in Salguero’s car and statements made during an undercover jail operation tied the defendants to the killing, according to the appellate court ruling.