Stateline Casino Murderer Sentenced to 55 Years in Prison
This week, a 55-year prison term was handed down to the California resident who shot and killed a guy at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Lake Tahoe in Nevada.
Edgar Julian Delgado, 25, will be qualified for release from prison after spending 22 years.
As per the Nevada TV station KOLO, Delgado could have been sentenced to a maximum of life in jail.
A bullet to the head
He had already entered a guilty plea to first-degree murder and using a lethal weapon.
On March 25, 2023, a bar inside a casino saw gunfire. Omar Reyes Garcia, 32, was the victim; he was shot in the head. Later on, at Barton Hospital, he passed dead.
A short while later, the suspect was found on a California highway. At first, Delgado was detained for committing open murder.
He denied any memory of the shooting in court, KRNV, a TV station in Reno, Nevada, said.
Last year, Thomas Villoria, a seasoned criminal defense lawyer from Reno who was representing Delgado, informed a judge that the shooting was a "single incident."
Villoria, a former prosecutor, stated, "Had he not been drunk, this would never have occurred."
At the bar, two men met
The two males got into a fight, which led to the shooting. Garcia and Delgado first connected at the Center Bar at Hard Rock.
Authorities said that after an argument, Delgado shot Garcia three times with a 9 mm Glock after pointing it at him twice.
The getaway car's driver, Savannah Racquel Tautaupale, 27, Delgado's girlfriend, was detained for DUI and accessory after the fact.Deputies pulled over Tautaupale and Delgado's car as they were leaving for Mexico.
It's unclear how the court decided her case.
Initial estimates indicate that between 50 and 100 officers arrived at the casino after authorities were notified, as the incident was thought to be an active shooter scenario.
A piece of the casino facility and Highway 50 in both directions were briefly closed following the incident while authorities looked for the culprits.Every room within the casino was examined. Deputies from the Douglas County Sheriff's Office evacuated the hotel's north and Tahoe Towers, locked down the casino, and told patrons to stay indoors.
The incident also resulted in the temporary closure of Dotty's Casino in Stateline.
The shooting did not injure any further people.
Golden Nugget Lake Tahoe Hotel & Casino is the new name for the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Lake Tahoe.
