Quiroz was sentenced to 10 years in state prison for fatally shooting 35-year-old Abdirisaq Ahmed, a homeless man, five times in the back during a late-night encounter on 50th Street in City Heights. A San Diego Superior Court jury acquitted Quiroz of murder but convicted him of voluntary manslaughter.
According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, prosecutors said Quiroz and Ahmed crossed paths near 50th Street and University Avenue before Quiroz opened fire and fled the scene. San Diego Police officers responding to 911 calls of gunshots found Ahmed suffering from multiple gunshot wounds on the sidewalk in the 3800 block of 50th Street around 12:30 a.m. on April 21, 2022, according to the City of San Diego.
Investigators distributed surveillance footage of the shooting among law enforcement, and an officer who recognized Quiroz identified him from the video, per the Union-Tribune's reporting. Quiroz was arrested the following afternoon in the adjacent 3700 block of 50th Street — just one block from the crime scene, the same outlet reported. Detectives later found the gun used in the killing, along with clothing matching the shooter, inside Quiroz's home, prosecutors said.
The Jury's Verdict
Jurors acquitted Quiroz of murder but convicted him of voluntary manslaughter.
The California Judicial Council's CALCRIM No. 571 is titled “Voluntary Manslaughter: Imperfect Self-Defense or Imperfect Defense of Another.” Voluntary manslaughter is a felony under California Penal Code § 192(a), punishable by three, six, or 11 years in state prison, and it counts as a strike under the state's Three Strikes law, according to Wallin & Klarich. Quiroz's 10-year sentence falls within that statutory range.
Voluntary manslaughter is a felony under California Penal Code § 192(a), punishable by three, six, or 11 years in state prison, and it counts as a strike under the state's Three Strikes law, according to Wallin & Klarich. Quiroz's 10-year sentence falls within that statutory range.
A Neighborhood Shaped by Resettlement and Risk
Ahmed's death was a fatal act of violence against a homeless person in San Diego.
City Heights is the San Diego neighborhood where the shooting occurred. The San Diego Police Museum says the San Diego Police Department's Mid-City Division has operated out of a community-oriented substation on Landis Street since 1996 and that City Heights had the county's highest crime rate in 1994.
Ahmed's killing was not an isolated case in the neighborhood. In September 2025, San Diego Police arrested a 72-year-old resident in connection with the fatal shooting of another unhoused man, 52-year-old Mark Edward Tome, following a midnight alley altercation in a similar City Heights case.
With sentencing complete, Quiroz received a 10-year term in a case that centered on his late-night shooting of Ahmed on 50th Street.
