Nickolas Medrano also shot at a 90-year-old neighbor when he didn’t give him money, officials said.
SAN ANTONIO — A teenager will start his adult life behind bars after he was convicted in the 2023 killing of a man officials say he tried to rob at a car wash.
According to the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office, 18-year-old Nickolas Medrano and an accomplice lured Vincent Zurita to the south-San Antonio car wash on May 27, 2023, where Medrano fatally shot Zurita after he “resisted the robbery.” Earlier that same day, officials say, Medrano shot someone else: an elderly man, Charles Pope, who didn’t Medrano money when he had asked.
Pope survived after a bullet hit the top of his head. Medrano was just 16 at the time.
According to court records, he pleaded no contest to his charges of murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
On Thursday, the district attorney’s office said, 227th District Court Judge Christine Del Prado sentenced Medrano to 40 years in prison for killing Zurita and 20 years for shooting at Pope. Those sentences will be served concurrently, and he was also ordered to pay fines totaling $5,080.
“Today’s sentencing emphasizes our office’s mission in removing violent offenders from our streets,” District Attorney Joe Gonzales said in the press release.