Prosecutors told the judge some of the bullets fired during the incident pierced the bedroom of a small boy, barely missing the child as he slept.
SAN ANTONIO — It was a viral video of a violent incident and the woman who admitted that she recklessly fired a pistol into a residential neighborhood has now been handed a five-year prison term.
Prosecutors told the judge some of the bullets fired during the incident pierced the bedroom of a small boy, barely missing the child as he slept.
24-year-old Genesis Rodriguez accepted a plea deal in the case, with attorney Arnulfo Ortiz telling Judge Joel Perez “My client is young and acted irrationally and stupidly but she’s had almost two years in a jail cell to think about it.”
Ortiz emphatically told the judge that Rodriguez has a supportive family and hopes to build a better future, with a job already lined up.
The defense attorney said Rodriguez had a rough upbringing and is anxious to get treatment for her troubles.
“I don’t want to minimize what she did. It was a traumatic thing for the family that received the bullet in the wall but this is a person who might contribute positively to society,” Ortiz said.
Prosecutor Neal Cordero responded with passion, telling the judge “This is one of those senseless acts of violence that we as a community have a hard time understanding.”
Describing how multiple bullets shattered a home, Cordero told the judge “A bullet went into the young son’s bedroom and hit his Batman poster, and ricocheted off of the Batman poster toward the ceiling and that poster was feet away from the young child’s bed.”
Cordero said the actions by Rodriguez reached well beyond a mistake.
“It goes beyond stupid. It goes beyond wrong. It’s immoral. Driving around drinking and shooting guns at people’s homes,” Cordero said, adding “This could have been not only murder, but it could have been a capital murder if that little boy had been hit.”
Cordero said the fact that Rodriguez posted video of the attack on social media moments later with no remorse made the incident more egregious.
“It immediately went viral on the internet,” Cordero said, adding that Rodriguez bragged about the incident. “Her attitude has not been one of remorse or deserving of mercy,” Cordero continued.
Cordero told the judge Rodriguez has failed to take responsibility for her actions and asked for a ten year sentence. “So as to deter those who think that it is fun! That it’s a game! To shoot guns out of moving vehicles! Because it’s not a game and it needs to be stopped!”
Noting that the plea deal included dropping an unrelated aggravated robbery charge, Judge Perez handed down a five year sentence.
A court spokesman said since a deadly weapon was used in the attack, Rodriguez will not be eligible for early release and will serve all five years, with credit given for the time she has already served while awaiting trial.
Another woman who was in the car during the attack was initially charged as well. A spokesman for the District Attorney said that case, for deadly conduct firearm, was dismissed in September 2023 due to insufficient evidence.
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