Four life sentences for man who killed Greenacres mother of two at nightclub brawl

WEST PALM BEACH — A year before he killed 24-year-old Kassandra Morales, Marcus Hull told a police officer that he “shoots a lot and shoots straight.”

At a murder trial in May, the Lake Worth Beach resident said the opposite was true: that the bullets that struck Morales and wounded three others in a nightclub parking lot were accidental and that he pulled the trigger to scatter the strangers — not hurt them.

Jurors didn’t believe him. They deliberated for six hours before convicting Hull, 33, of premeditated murder, attempted murder, aggravated assault with a firearm and discharging a firearm from a weapon. Circuit Judge Jeffrey Gillen sentenced him to four consecutive life sentences Monday, July 1.

Hull turned down a 45-year plea deal with prosecutors ahead of his trial, opting instead to fight the charges against him. At Monday's sentencing hearing, he apologized to Morales' family, thanked them for the kindness they'd shown his wife and prayed for them to find peace.

Yani Pena, Morales' sister-in-law, read aloud a letter that recalled the joy of her life and the horror when it ended.

"You destroyed and crushed the lives of those who loved her the most, while also destroying your life, and the lives of yours," she told Hull. "I feel in my heart that if you could take that moment back, you would. However, the law of man has found you guilty, and for your crime you will spend the rest of your life behind bars."

Chance encounter at La Isla nightclub led to fatal shooting

Hull killed the Greenacres mother of two outside the La Isla Del Encanto nightclub near Palm Springs on April 29, 2018. He also wounded two security guards and a bystander before fleeing from the parking lot and eventually from the state.

Anthony Lorenzano, one of three friends who accompanied Hull to the club on the night of the shooting, told attorneys that Hull was "the kind of person that, if he gets mad, he'll shoot you." Assistant Public Defender Stephanie Gagerie maintained that Hull didn't mean to kill anyone.

Lorenzano said he and Hull arrived at the club well after midnight by happenstance; they were hungry, and La Isla sold food late. While the men ate chicken and plantains, Morales and her boyfriend shared a bottle of Hennessy with friends Kelvin Fajardo and Gabriel Delcid at a table nearby.

The two groups crossed paths shortly after 2 a.m. when Hull and Lorenzano stepped outside to smoke cigarettes. Morales' group had exited the nightclub a minute earlier to call an Uber for Delcid. Morales and her companions were strangers to Hull, but Hull said he saw a look of recognition pass between Lorenzano and Fajardo.

The men had a "longstanding beef" over a woman, Assistant State Attorney Francine Edwards told jurors. Their feud was the catalyst for a brief but explosive fight between the groups outside the nightclub.

"Fists were thrown," the prosecutor said. "Punches were had. Glasses fell off."

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Someone knocked Hull, at 6-foot-1 and 250 pounds, on his back.

By the time the club's security guards broke up the fight and began escorting Morales' group away, Hull had returned to his gray Chevrolet Equinox alone. He said Lorenzano, still searching for his glasses, was hidden from view.

"Reasonably believing that his friend is still being attacked, he does the only thing he thinks possible to help in that moment," Gagerie told jurors.

Hull started the car, turned off its headlights and drove to the nightclub's entrance, where he fired several shots out the window. According to Gagerie, he aimed at the ground.

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Detectives found murder weapon at home of Hull's relative

Fajardo called Morales' mother at 2:16 a.m. "You have to come here," she said he told her. "Kassandra was shot."

Yamileth Rodriguez arrived at the club 15 minutes later, but her daughter was already en route to St. Mary's Medical Center in West Palm Beach. Rodriguez said she followed her there and was barred from seeing Morales while she underwent treatment. At 5:25 a.m., doctors told her she had died.

Detectives identified Hull as the gunman within hours, with the help of surveillance video and witness statements. During a 40-minute interview at the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, Hull told investigators that he was in the nightclub parking lot when gunfire began, but he denied shooting anyone.

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Hull said he went to a family member’s house in Lake Worth Beach after leaving the nightclub. Deputies obtained search warrants for Hull's home and his relative’s, where they found a garbage bag containing the clothes Hull wore to the club and the 9mm semiautomatic gun he used to kill Morales and wound three others.

Hull, then 29 and with children of his own, was arrested in Georgia after Crime Stoppers of Palm Beach County offered a $3,000 reward for information about his whereabouts.

Morales was born in Miami but graduated from Lake Worth High School. She worked as a supervisor for a cleaning company and was a team mom in the youth baseball program at Phipps Park in West Palm Beach. A GoFundMe account in her name raised more than $15,000. The money went toward her funeral and savings accounts for her two sons.

Caribe Group Enterprise, which operated the since-closed La Isla nightclub, agreed to a confidential wrongful death settlement with her family in January.

Hannah Phillips is a journalist covering public safety and criminal justice at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at hphillips@pbpost.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Man who killed Kassandra Morales gets 4 life sentences for 2018 murder