"Disrespected" Colorado gunman sentenced to more than 1,000 years in prison
A 39-year-old man who fired 28 rounds at a Greeley bar after he felt 'disrespected' by another patron was sentenced Friday to 1,016 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections.
Efren Sanchez left the Rancho el Corazon establishment on Aug. 13, 2022, and returned wearing a mask and armed with a rifle, according to investigators from the Greeley Police Department. Those detectives determined that Sanchez discharged the weapon at 25 people gathered outside and inside the bar.
Two people suffered gunshot wounds.
Sanchez was convicted on 50 counts of attempted murder -- two counts for every person that was at the bar that night -- in April by a Weld County jury.
"He shot bullet after bullet, causing panic and pain," Chief Deputy District Attorney Michael Pirraglia said during that trial's closing arguments. "These are innocent victims with forever reminders of the defendant's actions."
Friday, Weld County District Court Judge Vincente Vigil sentenced Sanchez to 48 years in state prison related to the two people who were injured. Vigil ordered Sanchez to serve 40 years for each of the 23 others who were present.
A statement was read at Friday's sentencing from one of the shooting victims.
"On the night of August 13, 2022, I felt that my life was going to end and I would not see the next day," the victim wrote. "I would begin to live the next years with so much anxiety, panic attacks, and depression. No longer being able to have a social life for fear of being killed. I never imagined that at my age I would have to receive psychological help for going out to have fun."
"This is one of the most horrific crimes that has ever happened in Weld County," Judge Vigil said at Sanchez's sentencing. "You could have easily killed multiple, multiple people. It boggles my mind you felt like that was an appropriate way to react to a minimal and insignificant situation. You've demonstrated that you are a danger to society and our community. This is a just sentence, and a fair sentence, when I consider the horrible nature of this case."
