‘Beloved’ 18-year-old shot dead at house party, NM officials say. Man sentenced

A man has been sentenced to prison in connection to the 2022 shooting that left a “beloved” 18-year-old dead, New Mexico officials said.

In December 2022, now-21-year-old Jesse Parra showed up uninvited to an Albuquerque house party with Cruz Medina, Isaiah Espinosa and Jesse Barrios after learning about it on social media, according to an Aug. 19 Facebook post by the Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office.

After they were asked to leave because they were taking photos with guns, they returned and began shooting, officials said.

Parra drove the car during the shooting, “maneuvering the vehicle so the two shooters could fire at the home and flee the scene,” officials said.

An 18-year-old, later identified as Jada Gonzales, was fatally shot in the stomach, officials said.

Gonzales had plans to attend Texas Christian University and was an “exemplary student” who worked two jobs, a GoFundMe page to raise money for funeral expenses said.

“This is the greatest pain I’ve ever known and not one I’d wish any parent to ever feel,” the GoFundMe page said.

Medina, then 16, was sentenced to 24 years in prison, officials said.

Espinosa, 16 at the time and the one accused of firing the shot that killed Gonzales, was sentenced to 29 years in prison, prosecutors said.

Barrios, then 18, “recorded the crime on his phone and was taken into ICE custody,” prosecutors said.

In April, Parra pleaded guilty to charges of shooting at a dwelling or occupied building resulting in death, conspiracy to commit shooting at a dwelling or occupied building resulting in death and tampering with evidence, officials said.

He was sentenced to 12 years in prison, officials said.

“Jada Brooke Gonzales touched many lives and hearts and we are all devastated by this loss,” the GoFundMe page said.