Two Dorchester teenagers have been sent to prison for the 2024 apartment shooting that killed a father and wounded his son. Manuel Guerrero, 19, and Luis Perez, 18, pleaded guilty on Tuesday and were sentenced to 18 to 22 years in state prison, followed by two years of probation.
The Suffolk County District Attorney’s office announced the pleas and sentences in a press release, according to Boston.com. Prosecutors said Guerrero and Perez admitted to manslaughter, armed assault to murder and home invasion one week before a scheduled jury trial. Family members in court described Leudis Mejia Sanchez as "a community leader," and attorneys for the defendants did not respond to requests for comment, the outlet reported.
How prosecutors say it unfolded
On Aug. 12, 2024, Boston police responded to reports of gunfire at a triple-decker at 5 Trent St., where officers found two men suffering from gunshot wounds. The man who died was later identified as 49-year-old Leudis Mejia Sanchez. Investigators eventually focused on two Dorchester teens, and arrests followed in the months after the killing, as reported by The Boston Globe.
The fatal encounter, prosecutors say
According to prosecutors, surveillance footage shows Guerrero and Perez getting out of a rented Kia near Trent and Clarkson streets, then walking to a third-floor apartment. They allegedly knocked on the door and, when it opened, fired through it. A 20-year-old man inside was hit in the arm. His father, Mejia Sanchez, ran upstairs to help and was shot in the chest and killed, prosecutors said, per Boston.com.
Surveillance images reportedly captured the pair’s faces, and investigators later located the Kia in a Zipcar parking space. GPS data from the rental car, along with data from a monitoring bracelet worn by one defendant, helped place them at the scene.
What the sentence means
Because both defendants were treated as "emerging adults," ages 18 and 19, the case unfolded against a shifting legal backdrop that has limited the toughest penalties for young people. In January 2024, the state’s Supreme Judicial Court ruled that people who were 18 to 20 at the time of an offense cannot be sentenced to life without parole, a decision that has reshaped sentencing options for young defendants, according to WBUR.
Their guilty pleas eliminated the prospect of a contested trial, leaving family members and prosecutors to weigh the tradeoff between the certainty of punishment and the chance for a full public airing of evidence.
The sentences close a case that investigators say was built largely on surveillance images and electronic location data. Prosecutors said they hope the outcome brings some measure of closure to the victim’s relatives and Trent Street neighbors.
