A 20-year-old East Palo Alto man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for opening fire in a Menlo Park 7-Eleven parking lot in 2022, wounding a man and, according to police, nearly hitting four other people who were sitting in a parked car nearby. Sosefo Ahofono pleaded no contest in late August to attempted murder and a firearm-use charge, and a judge refused to grant him probation this week.
San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Jackson denied Ahofono probation and handed down the 15-year sentence, according to The Almanac. Ahofono had pleaded no contest on Aug. 31, 2026, to attempted murder and use of a firearm charges tied to the shooting, the outlet reported. He was also fined $370 as part of the sentence.
Gunfire Outside a Caltrain-Adjacent 7-Eleven
The shooting unfolded on Aug. 21, 2022, in the 7-Eleven parking lot at Oak Grove Avenue and Alma Street, directly across from the Menlo Park Caltrain station, per the same account from The Almanac. The Palo Alto Daily Post reported at the time that the shooting happened at 1:20 p.m. that Sunday. One man was wounded and taken to a nearby hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, according to CBS San Francisco.
Police told CBS San Francisco that four people sitting in a parked car were the intended targets of the shooting. According to the county district attorney's office case summary, as cited by The Almanac, Ahofono fired 16 rounds from his rifle into the victim's truck. The case summary also states that Ahofono had a prior conflict with the victim and fled the scene in his own car after the shooting.
Age Discrepancy Between Arrest and Sentencing
Court records tied to the sentencing describe Ahofono as 20 years old, per The Almanac's reporting. That differs from CBS San Francisco's earlier report identifying him as 19 years old at the time he was arrested and booked. The available reporting does not explain the discrepancy.
San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe did not respond to a request for comment, according to the Almanac's report, and Ahofono's attorney, Jonathan McDougall, likewise did not respond to a request for comment. The record does not include further detail on the exact terms of the sentence or on the victim's identity or current condition.
