A man who shot an acquaintance multiple times during a dispute at the victim’s Mead Valley home was sentenced Tuesday to 15 years in state prison.
Juan Jose Vargas, 26, pleaded guilty in May to attempted murder and a sentence-enhancing gun use allegation for the 2017 attack in the 22000 block of Aloha Road, near Old Elsinore Road. In exchange for his admissions, the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office dropped a great bodily injury allegation.
Superior Court Judge Emma Smith certified the terms of the plea agreement and imposed the sentence stipulated by the prosecution and defense.
Vargas will have to serve at least 12 years behind bars before he’s eligible for parole.
According to Sgt. Curt Harris, the defendant and the 30-year-old victim got into a dispute — the nature of which was never specified — in the backyard of his residence on the night of June 17, 2017, and Vargas pulled a handgun and opened fire.
The victim was struck several times and collapsed, Harris said.
Vargas fled the scene in his pickup truck as witnesses called 911.
Paramedics and deputies arrived moments later and rendered emergency aid. The victim was taken to Riverside University Medical Center in Moreno Valley, where he underwent surgery, ultimately recovering from his wounds.
Harris said detectives determined that Vargas was the shooter and initiated a search that led them two days later to the 30000 block of Debbie Lane in Nuevo, where the defendant was arrested without a struggle.
He had no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.