Two Los Angeles-area teenagers pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court to murder and attempted murder in connection with two 2024 shootings in Chula Vista that prosecutors say were ordered by Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel. The teens admitted they were recruited as paid hitmen, according to prosecutors, and acknowledged that two people were wounded and an adult accomplice was killed during the second attack. Sentencing is set for March 20, 2026.
The violence started the evening of March 26, 2024, in the parking lot of a Chili’s at East H Street and Paseo del Rey in Chula Vista. Authorities say the teens pulled up behind their intended target and opened fire, but one of the guns jammed and they sped off. A few hours later, they allegedly returned to the victim’s nearby home with an older accomplice and fired into the residence. A resident inside shot back, killing that accomplice. Those details appear in federal plea documents and in reporting by inewsource.
Federal prosecutors identified the teens as Andrew Nunez and Johncarlo Quintero, who were 15 at the time of the shootings. Both pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted murder in aid of racketeering and one count of murder in aid of racketeering. Prosecutors say the youths were members of the Westside Wilmas gang and were promised roughly $50,000 each for the hits. The charges and alleged gang ties were detailed by the U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of California.
DA Sends Case To Federal Prosecutors
The case originally landed in San Diego juvenile court. But in July 2024, the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office dismissed the state petition and kicked the matter to federal prosecutors, pointing to a rise in violent juvenile crime. In a news release, the office said the move was meant to discourage adults from recruiting minors for violent work and cited growing concern about “criminally sophisticated youths.” That referral was announced by the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office.
State Law And The Federal Response
Prosecutors highlighted a 2018 California law that bars trying 14- and 15-year-olds in adult court. They argue cartels and violent street gangs have seized on that rule, recruiting underage shooters who would face lighter consequences in state court. Federal authorities have condemned the tactic, and the FBI labeled the use of minors to dodge tougher punishment “disgraceful,” according to national coverage by The Associated Press.
Provocative-Act Claim And Federal Statute
In building the murder case, prosecutors relied on what they described as a "provocative-act murder," arguing the teens’ actions provoked a defensive response that led to the death of their older accomplice, a theory noted in national reporting. The charges were brought under Title 18, U.S.C. § 1959, known as VICAR, which allows for death or life imprisonment for murder in aid of racketeering and up to 10 years for attempted murder, according to the statute text at Cornell Law School’s LII.
Sentencing And Next Steps
During Thursday’s hearing, the defendants answered a series of questions from U.S. District Court Judge Todd Robinson and confirmed their plea agreements. They are scheduled to be sentenced on March 20, 2026. The U.S. Attorney’s Office said the murder and attempted murder charges in aid of racketeering stem from the government’s claim that the shootings were carried out to gain and maintain status within the Westside Wilmas enterprise, according to the office’s announcement.
Local Reaction
Juvenile justice advocates told reporters the DA’s decision to move the case into federal court sidestepped what the state Legislature intended when it tightened rules on transferring youths to adult courts and undercut reforms centered on rehabilitation, according to reporting by inewsource. Law-enforcement officials, for their part, have defended the referral as necessary to hold young people accountable for severe violence and to discourage gangs from drafting minors into their ranks.
