A judge on Thursday sentenced a 40-year-old man to two life terms in prison without the possibility of parole for fatally shooting two people outside a Westminster bar in March.
An Adams County jury found Steven Muniz guilty of four counts of first-degree murder on Dec. 23, following a nine-day trial.
“The brutal murder of these two victims by Mr. Muniz has shattered multiple lives,” 17th Judicial District Attorney Brian Mason said in a statement. “The defendant will now spend the rest of his life in prison because of his crimes.”
The shooting occurred March 6 at Sportswatch Bar and Grill along Lowell Boulevard in Westminster.
Muniz and the group he was with got into a physical confrontation with another group at the bar. Muniz punched one person, but the altercation ended shortly after.
When 33-year-old Keith Ames left the bar, he was followed by Muniz, who confronted him in the parking lot, pulled out a handgun and fired four shots.
Two of the gunshots hit Ames in the back, while the other two struck 31-year-old Jessica Ybarra in the foot and the back as she stood in the parking lot nearby.
Muniz left the area on foot and was later picked up by his friend Robert Manzanares. Both were arrested several weeks after the shooting.
Manzanares was convicted of being accessory to a crime for his role in the incident and sentenced to three years in prison last year.
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