A teen who admitted to opening fire on a car, killing a woman in front of her young daughter in 2022, has been sentenced on Thursday after pleading guilty to first-degree murder.
Concretely, Ty Gallegos will spend 10 years in prison for the killing of Kayla Montaño in New Mexico. The crime took place in March 2022, after two teenagers told Gallegos and two other people that someone in a SUV had robbed them in a gas station.
The people then opened fire on the car, killing Montaño and injuring her fiancé. Their seven-year-old daughter was inside the car as well and witnessed the whole episode, which ended after the fiancé managed to escape and go to the hospital.
Albuquerque police said it was a case of mistaken identity. As the teens tracked a stolen phone at the gas station, they believed Montaño's car had been involved in the robbery and opened fire.
"It's a shame because not only did they take her life and destroy our lives, but they destroyed theirs and their families," said Gracie Gonzalez, mother to Kayla Montaño. "And I actually feel for those parents, but at least they get to visit their kids, while I no longer get that luxury." The three teenage men were minors at the time of the crime.
The trial began in May and both Gallegos and another of the teen. Both pleaded guilty to first-degree murder. Two other suspects are scheduled to be tried in August.
Montaño's mother, Gracie González, said the surviving family has moved out of the city. "We no longer live in Albuquerque because Kayla's little girl couldn't sit upright in a car, she would scooch down so far so that nobody could see her through the window, because she was terrified," Gonzales told KOB 4.
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