Santa Monica man found guilty of fatally shooting teenager
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A Santa Monica man was found guilty Tuesday of murdering an 18-year-old teenager last year, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office said.
A jury found Sherwin Espinosa, 43, guilty of one count of second-degree murder. Espinosa faces up to 40 years in prison.
The victim, 18-year-old Juan Castillo, was a former Santa Monica High School student who played football, according to NBC.
Santa Monica police found Castillo with a gunshot wound in the head shortly after 5 a.m. on Feb. 26, 2017, in the 1300 block of 16th Street in Santa Monica, officials said.
Detectives were able to link Castillo’s death to a different shooting that occurred earlier that morning at around 12:45 a.m. in the 2100 block of Pico Boulevard, Santa Monica police said in a statement last year.
Police arrested and filed charges against Espinosa in May 2017.
He is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 12.
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