Man gets 25 years to life in prison for fatal shooting at Sacramento auto shop
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Judge Steve White sentenced Cansio Santiago Ramirez to 25 years to life in prison.
- A jury convicted Ramirez of second-degree murder for a shooting at an auto repair shop.
- In August 2017, Ramirez shot Arnulfo Soto who was in a fist fight with a mechanic.
A judge has sentenced a man to 25 years to life in prison for a deadly shooting nine years ago at a Sacramento County auto repair shop, where the defendant was asked to grab his gun during a fist fight between a mechanic and the murder victim.
On April 2, Sacramento Superior Court Judge Steve White sentenced Cansio Santiago Ramirez, 55, for the 2017 shooting death of 37-year-old Arnulfo Soto, court records show.
A jury last June found Ramirez guilty of second-degree murder for shooting Soto, along with an enhancement for using a gun in the homicide.
Ramirez as of Thursday was serving his sentence at California State Prison, Los Angeles County. He will become eligible for parole in August 2037, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
The deadly shooting was reported about 1:30 p.m. Aug. 15, 2017, just outside the X-pert Auto Repair shop in the 3000 block of 52nd Avenue in south Sacramento.
That day, Ramirez had been at the shop trying to sell a mechanic some jewelry and a gun, the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office announced Thursday in a news release. Ramirez left the jewelry and the gun at the repair shop and went to get something to eat.
Later that day, Soto went to the repair shop to discuss a vehicle with the mechanic. Prosecutors said Soto and the mechanic got into an argument over the vehicle before the argument escalated to a fist fight.
During the fight, Ramirez returned to the repair shop. Prosecutors said the mechanic told Ramirez to grab his gun.
As Soto and the mechanic continued to fight, Ramirez shot Soto, according to the District Attorney’s Office. Soto was killed almost instantly.
Prosecutors said Ramirez then left the auto repair shop, but the mechanic identified Ramirez as the shooter.
After Ramirez’s arrest, Sacramento County sheriff’s officials said Soto and the mechanic had been arguing over the purchase of a vehicle before the fist fight, and Ramirez was just a “third party” at the repair shop.
