SAN DIEGO (CNS) - Two teenagers acting as hired gunmen for the Sinaloa Cartel when they committed a pair of shootings in Chula Vista last year that left one man dead and two others wounded pleaded guilty to federal charges Thursday.
Andrew Nunez, 16, and Johncarlo Quintero, 17, admitted to the March 2024 attacks that occurred outside a Chili's restaurant and a Chula Vista apartment.
The boys, who were both 15 years old at the time, pleaded guilty to the attempted murders of two men on behalf of a Mexican Mafia-affiliated gang based out of Los Angeles County, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Both victims were shot, but survived.
Nunez and Quintero also pleaded guilty to murder for the shooting death of their accomplice, 28-year-old Ricardo Sanchez. Sanchez was fatally shot by one of the attempted murder targets in self-defense and under the provocative act murder doctrine, the defendants were held accountable for his killing.
The U.S. Attorney's Office says Nunez and Quintero were specifically recruited because of their age, as they would not be prosecuted by the state as adults.
Prosecutors say the defendants drove from Wilmington in Los Angeles County to the Chili's restaurant in Chula Vista, where one of their targets was eating with his family.
As the victim's family was leaving the restaurant, Quintero and Nunez drove behind them in the parking lot and Quintero fired one shot that struck the victim in his legs, prosecutors said. Quintero could not fire again because his gun jammed, so the defendants fled, but not before Nunez attempted to strike the victim with their vehicle.
Later that night, the defendants and Sanchez showed up at the victim's home in another attempt to kill him. They opened fire on the victim's home, resulting in a friend of the victim being shot in the hand, arm and face, prosecutors said. The victim's friend returned fire with his own firearm, killing Sanchez.
Nunez and Quintero fled the scene, but were arrested later by Chula Vista police.
They are slated to be sentenced in March following Thursday's guilty pleas.
Mark Dargis, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI San Diego Field Office, said in a statement, "The disgraceful tactic of cartels, street gangs and the Mexican Mafia using underage children for murderous acts to evade enhanced punishments will not be tolerated. These violent crimes have no place in our communities and criminal gangs will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law."
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