DENVER (KDVR) -- A Weld County judge on Friday sentenced a man to more than a millennium in prison after a 2022 shooting at a Greeley bar prosecutors said was "only by the grace of God" not deadly.
Efren Sanchez was sentenced to 1,016 years in prison after he was convicted earlier this year of firing 28 rounds from a rifle at people both inside and outside the Rancho El Corazon bar on August 13, 2022, according to the 19th Judicial District Attorney's Office in a press release. He was convicted in April of 25 counts each of first-degree attempted murder after deliberation and extreme indifference, as well as two sentence-enhancing counts of crime of violence.
Man faces up to 1,200 years in prison for firing dozens of rounds into Greeley bar“It’s only by the grace of God that no one was killed that night,” Chief Deputy District AttorneyAnthony Perea said during Friday’s sentencing hearing. “It’s not for the lack of trying. The defendant tried to kill that night. He didn’t try once. He shot at the bar over and over again as people scrambled for their lives. He may have not killed anyone that night, but he killed their spirits.”
Sanchez was seen leaving the bar after feeling "disrespected" by another bar patron, according to the DA's office, then returned armed with a rifle.
Surveillance video showed Sanchez fire several rounds at people outside the bar before firing several more rounds into the bar from outside the building.
“This is one of the most horrific crimes that has ever happened in Weld County,” Judge Vincente Vigil said before handing down the sentence. “You could have easily killed multiple, multiple people. It boggles my mind you felt like that was an appropriate way to react to a minimal and insignificant situation. You’ve demonstrated that you are a danger to society and our community. This is a just sentence, and a fair sentence, when I consider the horrible nature of this case.”
Two people were injured in the shooting but survived, the DA's office said. Perea during the sentence also read a victim impact statement from one who described their life the next few years as living with panic and anxiety.
“On the night of August 13, 2022, I felt that my life was going to end and I would not see the next day,” the victim wrote. “I would begin to live the next years with so much anxiety, panic attacks, and depression. No longer being able to have a social life for fear of being killed. I never imagined that at my age I would have to receive psychological help for going out to have fun.”
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