BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — A 28-year-old man has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for killing a rival gang member in 2017, according to court records.
A Kern County jury in December found Angel Gonzales guilty of first-degree murder and other charges in the shooting death of Jonathan Canchola. Several aggravating circumstances filed in the case were found true, as was the allegation Gonzales had a prior strike offense for a 2016 robbery.
Gonzales was sentenced Thursday.
Late April 19, 2017, Gonzales and other members of the Uptown Bakers street gang had a house party in northeast Bakersfield. One of them left to buy blunt wraps from a convenience store at Mt. Vernon Avenue and Columbus Street and became involved in an argument with Canchola, according to prosecutors and court documents.
Others partygoers were called to the scene and assaulted Canchola, stabbing him twice. Canchola was staggering backward when Gonzales walked up and shot him in the chest, prosecutors said. Gonzales fled and was arrested in December 2018.
