Texas Man Sentenced to 100 Years for Deadly Shooting Spree
Las Vegas, NV (WKRC) — A Texas man, identified as McDonnell, was sentenced to 100 years in prison for his role in an 11-hour shooting rampage across Nevada and Arizona in 2020, which left one person dead and several others wounded.
McDonnell, who pleaded guilty but mentally ill to charges including first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle, was sentenced after a lengthy legal process. His actions, which began in Nevada and ended in Arizona, were part of a chaotic spree involving McDonnell, his brother, and his brother’s ex-wife. The trio was stopped after their vehicle rolled over in Arizona.
During the attack, McDonnell and his brother fired indiscriminately at cars, eventually shooting into a 7-Eleven store in Henderson, Nevada, where one victim, Mendiola, was killed. Another victim died while shielding his girlfriend, Jayde Libby, from the gunfire.
McDonnell took responsibility for the crimes, acknowledging the pain caused to the victims and their families. Mendiola’s brother, a wounded victim, expressed the lasting emotional damage from the incident, saying, “Our lives will never be the same after this.”
The sentencing was harsh, with prosecutors requesting the maximum penalty, citing the random and heinous nature of the crimes. McDonnell’s public defender requested a much lighter sentence of 21 to 52 years, but the court imposed a 100-year term due to the severity of the violence.
Following the 7-Eleven shooting, McDonnell and his co-defendants continued their rampage, wounding another victim before being arrested after a shootout with law enforcement in Arizona. McDonnell’s brother is awaiting trial, and his ex-wife is scheduled for sentencing in June.
More than a dozen people were targeted during the spree, and the incident has left both physical and emotional scars on the victims and their families.