A California man has been sentenced to 150 years to life in prison for the murders of three people in his East Los Angeles neighborhood.
Anthony Velasquez, 35, was found guilty earlier in the week of three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Jesse Avalos, 34, Eduardo Robles, 38, and Amanda Nicole Lopez, 27.
Prosecutors said Velasquez targeted the victims because he felt disrespected by them, ABC7 reported.
During sentencing, Amanda Lopez’s mother, Rozelle, addressed the court, saying: “You Anthony are and always will be nothing more than a certified homicidal serial killer who has no heart and no conscience,” according to ABC7.
Velasquez’s attorney, Leslie Ann Boyce, told PEOPLE that her client “maintained his innocence throughout the investigation and throughout trial,” adding that an appeal has been filed.
The murders happened within about two miles of each other in East Los Angeles.
Avalos was the first victim. According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office, on the night of Feb. 10, 2014, he had been helping an acquaintance jumpstart a vehicle near the intersection of Telegraph Road and Arizona Avenue around 11 p.m. Hours later, he was found inside his blue SUV, shot multiple times.
On July 6, 2015, Robles was killed after being shot several times in the upper torso following a fight in the driveway of a home on the 4300 block of Eagle Street.
Lopez was fatally shot in the upper torso while she slept in a tent near a homeless encampment on April 22, 2018.
In August 2021, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department announced an $80,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible. “We know there were witnesses at every murder,” Homicide Bureau Captain Joe Mendoza said at the time.
Investigators later determined that the same firearm had been used in the murders of Avalos and Robles. Velasquez was arrested on suspicion of murder a month after the reward was announced, according to the Los Angeles Times.
