Suspect in 2021 deadly drive-by shooting in North Lubbock sentenced to 30 years

A 19-year-old man was sentenced Tuesday to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to his role in a deadly drive-by shooting in North Lubbock that killed a 69-year-old man in his home two years ago.

Jamez Sanchez Jr., who has been held at the Lubbock County Detention Center since his June 26, 2021 arrest, pleaded guilty to a count of aggravated assault from a moving vehicle causing serious bodily injury.

He appeared in the 140th District Court with his attorney, Jesse Mendez.

The offense, also known as the drive-by shooting statute, carries a punishment of five years to life in prison.

He will have to serve half of his sentence before he is parole eligible.

Sanchez is one of two people charged in the May 9, 2021, shooting death of Willard Justice Jr. at his home in the Westfork Mobile Home Park in the 2800 block of North Quaker Avenue.

Sally Mendoza told Sanchez she recalled the night she answered her phone and heard the police sergeant on the other end tell her that her eldest brother had been killed.

"To be told that he died over the phone was the worst thing that could have happened," she said. "I didn't even know who to call and tell because it was at 10:30 on a Monday night."

She described her brother as a generous man who took care of his wife's granddaughter even though they weren't related by blood. He even let her friends stay with them.

"He didn't want them living on the streets," she said. "This is the heart our brother had."

Mendoza told Sanchez his actions that night continue to haunt her.

"How could you have been made a decision to shoot at a residence with so many other families living around my brother?" she said. "It could have been worse and you could have taken the lives of our brother's granddaughter and great-granddaughter."

She called Sanchez's 30-year sentence a blessing but also expressed pity for him.

"I hate that someone as young as you will not have a life," she said. "It hurts so badly, at your age you have taken it away because of stupidity."

Mendoza offered Sanchez her forgiveness and said she believed her brother is resting in peace knowing that while he was killed, his granddaughter's and great granddaughter's lives were spared.

"You have brought our family a lot closer so for that I can actually thank you, but for taking our brother's life we cannot forget," she said.

The charge against Sanchez stems from a Lubbock Metropolitan Special Crimes Unit investigation that began after Lubbock police, responding to a welfare check in for Justice found his body in a bedroom, dead from what appeared to be a gunshot wound, court records state.

The night before, Lubbock police responded to a shots fired call in the area and found at least three homes with bullet damage, though Justice's home was not one of them, officials said.

Investigators collected two .40 caliber shell casings from the scene, the warrant states. Video from a nearby home surveillance camera showed a dark-colored SUV leaving the mobile home park within minutes of the 911 call reporting the shooting.

Justice's granddaughter told investigators that her boyfriend and Sanchez had an ongoing feud. She said Sanchez reportedly stole drugs from her boyfriend and her boyfriend stole a gun from Sanchez in retaliation. She said the two had been shooting at each other since, the warrant states.

Investigators identified Leo Contreras and a juvenile boy as Sanchez's associates, the warrant states.

A juvenile witness who was with Contreras and Sanchez in the SUV that night, told police Contreras and Sanchez shot at Justice's home because they believed Justice's granddaughter's boyfriend was staying there, the warrant states.

Meanwhile on May 11, homicide investigators were in the 500 block of 53rd Street watching a black Isuzu SUV parked there they believed was used in the shooting.

A homicide investigator identified Contreras as the person entering the vehicle, which traveled westbound.

A Lubbock County Sheriff's Deputy assigned to the Texas Anti-Gang unit who was assisting in the investigation spotted the vehicle near the intersection of 50th Street and U.S. Highway 87 changing lanes without signaling.

The deputy turned on his vehicle's lights and sirens to make a traffic stop but the SUV drove away prompting a pursuit around a south Lubbock neighborhood that ended near the intersection of 38th Street and Avenue D, where Contreras reportedly jumped out of the vehicle and ran away. The vehicle crashed into a pole in the 400 block of 38th Street and Contreras was not found.

According to the warrant, an initial search of the SUV yielded spent .40 caliber shell casings, Contreras' cellphone and Texas ID. A month later, an analyst with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives matched the shell casings found in the SUV to casings found at the scene of the shooting, the warrant states.

Meanwhile, investigators traced the vehicle to a relative of Contreras who lived in the 400 block of 39th Street. The relative told investigators she owned the vehicle but Contreras was the primary driver.

Contreras surrendered to police in Irving on May 14. His case is still pending.

Lubbock police officers arrested Sanchez a few weeks later in the 500 block of 53rd Street.

Mendez said after the hearing that Sanchez wished to apologize to Justice's friends and family for his actions.

"Even though my client was silent throughout the hearing, he is extremely remorseful and regrets his actions," he said. "He really regrets his actions here."

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Lubbock teen in deadly drive-by shooting gets 30-year prison sentence