Gerardo Vazquez Alvarez sentenced to 42 years jail in plea deal after going to West Phoenix Burger King and shooting dead his ex girlfriend and the mother of his two children dead. Victim id as Maria Ledesma-Ramirez.
A 30 year old man in Arizona will spend decades behind bars for killing his ex girlfriend while she was working at Burger King, where prosecutors say he placed an order, waited for her to appear behind the counter before shooting her dead along with seriously injuring a teen worker.
Gerardo Vazquez Alvarez, 30, was sentenced to 42 years jail by a Maricopa County judge on Tuesday for the fatal shooting of 25 year old single mother of two, Maria Ledesma-Ramirez, in April of 2023.
Alvarez had initially been charged with first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder. However, he reached a deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to reduced charges of second-degree murder, attempt to commit second-degree murder, and felony disorderly conduct with a weapon.
Shot through teen worker in order to kill ex girlfriend
According to a news release from the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, officers with the Phoenix Police Department on April 12, 2023 responded to multiple reports regarding a shooting inside of a Burger King at 19th Avenue and Buckeye Road at West Phoenix.
Witnesses told investigators that Alvarez arrived at the restaurant, placed his order, and then ‘waited for the victim to come to the front counter before walking over and shooting her. One of Ledesma-Ramirez’s co-workers — a teenager — was also critically injured in the shooting.’ Prosecutors said that Ledesma-Ramirez and the co-worker were both behind the counter and hugging each other when Alvarez shot them, KOLD reported.
‘The fact that you have two victims just right there is significant. That you’re willing to shoot through a human being to kill another,’ Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said. ‘Now we have two kids that lost their mom at a very young age. The circumstances of the case were just gut wrenching.’
Authorities said that just before going to the Burger King with a loaded .40-caliber handgun, Alvarez had gotten into an argument with Ledesma-Ramirez regarding their relationship and their children.
Young mother fought to protect her two children from their father
When Alvarez was tracked by police and arrested, he told detectives that he did not intend to kill Ledesma-Ramirez, but claimed that during their telephone argument, she told him that killing her was the only way he would ever see his kids again, KOLD reported. He also said that he did not intend to shoot Ledesma-Ramirez’s co-worker, explaining that she was ‘simply in his way.’
Mitchell reportedly said Ledesma-Ramirez was terrified that Alvarez ‘would do something to the children,’ which she ‘did not want to happen.’
‘Not only did a young mother lose her life that night, but multiple young people were also put in harm’s way and will have to live with the trauma of what they saw and heard due to the defendant’s callous actions,’ Mitchell said in a statement. ‘In committing this offense, he altered many lives, but most of all, those of his own young children.’
News of the 25 year old woman’s shooting murder shocked her family, who told of their daughter having broken up with her ex boyfriend more than 4 years ago prior. The former couple shared two children who Ledesma-Ramirez’s family said the children’s mother wanted to protect from Alvarez.
‘She was an exemplary mother…’
‘She was a fighter; her priority always was her kids,’ Ramirez’s mother, Maria Christina Ramirez, previously told 12News. ‘She went to work, home, and took her kids to work. She was one of those rare moms that cooked her child’s lunch and took it to them at school. She did everything for them.’
Prior to Alvarez being formally sentenced, Ledesma-Ramirez’s parents addressed the court.
‘She was an exemplary mother,’ the parents said, per the release. ‘She guarded her children so much because they were her greatest treasure, but now she has left such a huge void in us.’
The county attorney’s office said domestic violence can be such a horrible threat and they work with victims on having a safety plan in place and a trusted person they can talk to to help them get out.
‘Now we have two kids that lost their mom at a very young age,’ said Mitchell. ‘The circumstances of the case were just gut wrenching.’
Not immediately clear is what visitation rights Alvarez had with his own two children prior to the fatal shooting and what ‘legal avenues’ the father had sought to pursue, if any…
