FAYETTEVILLE -- A Lowell man has been found guilty of attempted second-degree murder and possession of a firearm in the shooting of a Springdale teen last year.
Washington County Circuit Judge Joanna Taylor accepted the jury's recommendation July 14 that 21-year-old Hector Vega be sentenced to 55 years in prison.
Authorities accused Vega of shooting Joseph Garcia, 16, who had stopped on his bicycle at the corner of Crawford Avenue and Marylyn Street in Springdale on June 25, 2015. Witnesses told police that a car drove up and a man with a gun got out and approached Garcia, asked his gang affiliation, then shot him, according to prosecutors. Police say Vega was the man with the gun.
Garcia suffered injuries in his left hand and left leg.
The shooting came less than five minutes after Vega and Jose Yanez, 18, of Rogers were involved in an altercation with six rival gang members at a nearby Kum & Go convenience store, 1010 N. Thompson St., according to police.
Vega is an admitted member of the Wicked Brown Suspects. The rival gang members were Termite Loco Savages, according to prosecutors.
State Desk on 07/24/2016