Two 15-year-old Los Angeles teens plead guilty to acting as hitmen for the deadly Sinaloa Cartel and attempting a “gangland assassination” twice in five hours, leading to the killing of one of their accomplices and injuring two others — both knew they couldn’t be tried as adults if caught, prosecutors said.
The teens, Andrew Nunez aka “Shooter” and Johncarlo Quintero aka “Dumper” admitted in federal court they were offered $50,000 each by the cartel to kill their target.
They tried to kill the man twice, first outside a Chili’s restaurant in Chula Vista, San Diego, and then at his home on March 27, 2024, according to the Department of Justice.
During the first attempt, Quintero shot the victim in the leg but when he went in for the kill, his gun jammed. Nunez, who was just 15 years old at the time, then tried to run him over with a vehicle, but failed.
The following attempt, less than five hours later, was at the injured victims home. This time the teenagers brought an accomplice, Ricardo Sanchez, 28. But Sanchez was killed and one person in the house injured after a shoot out.
The injured man inside the house survived being shot in the hand, face and arm. There was also a child in the home, who was left unharmed, prosecutors said.
The teens were members of the Mexican Mafia-affiliated Westside Wilmas gang, and admitted in their plea agreements took the hit job to raise their ranks in the gang. They also said they were tapped because of their age, according to the DOJ.
The defendants knew if they were caught for that they would not be tried as adults under the laws of the State of California.
“In 2018, the California Legislature enacted Senate Bill 1391, which made state prosecutions of 14- and 15-year-olds in adult criminal court a practical impossibility regardless of the seriousness of the crime,” said U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon. “The brutal realities of cartel and gang violence demand a response, not a reprieve.”
Nunez and Quintero were charged with attempted murder in Aid of Racketeering and Murder in Aid of Racketeering because they conducted the hits for the purpose of promoting the Westside Wilmas Enterprise. The murder charge was for the death of Sanchez, their own accomplice.
Both teens will be sentenced March 20.
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