Texas man gets 100 years for interstate shooting spree that killed one, injured others
A Las Vegas judge has sentenced a Texas man to 100 years in prison for his role in a two-state shooting on Thanksgiving 2020 in which he killed a man in Nevada and engaged in a shootout with law enforcement in Arizona.
Christopher McDonnell, 32, of Tyler, Texas, pleaded guilty in October to more than 20 felonies, including murder, attempted murder, murder conspiracy, weapon charges and being a felon illegally in possession of a firearm.
Clark County District Judge Tierra Jones sentenced him on Friday to a minimum of 100 years in prison, KLAS-TV reported. Although unlikely to be alive by then, he would be eligible for parole in 2120 with credit for time served.
McDonnell, his brother Shawn McDonnell, 34, and Shawn McDonnell's then-wife Kayleigh Lewis, 29, were originally slapped with dozens of charges.
The three of them began an 11-hour rampage on Nov. 26, 2020, when they carried out what appeared to be random shootings that killed Kevin Mendiola Jr., 22, at a convenience store in Henderson, Nevada, and wounded several other people with drive-by gunfire.
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The group then traveled across the state border to Arizona, where they carried out additional shootings, including one involving a police officer.
The three accused criminals were arrested after their car rolled over.
Prosecutors said Lewis was driving as the two brothers fired indiscriminately out of the windows of the vehicle.
The shooting rampage ended near Parker, Arizona, following a pursuit involving officers from the Arizona Department of Public Safety, a car crash of a vehicle with a Texas license plate and Shawn McDonnell suffering wounds from troopers carrying rifles, according to police.
Shawn McDonnell and Lewis are still awaiting trial.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.