A Texas man has been sentenced to 100 years in prison by a judge in Las Vegas for his involvement in a shooting rampage that took place across two states on Thanksgiving 2020. The violent incident resulted in the death of a man in Nevada and a subsequent shootout with authorities in Arizona.
Christopher McDonnell, 32, admitted his guilt in October for over 20 serious crimes, which included murder, attempted murder, murder conspiracy, weapon charges, and illegally possessing a firearm as a felon.
The creepy-looking killer claimed to be “God” throughout the slaying spree, in which he fatally shot a man in a 7-Eleven store in Nevada on Thanksgiving in November 2020 before rushing away in a car and randomly shooting at others.
Kevin Mendiola Jr., 22, died after protecting his girlfriend from gunfire.
Three victims told the court about their harrowing encounters with the crazy gunman, whose face is tattooed to resemble a broken skull with a cross engraved between his eye sockets.
“I call him ‘Skeletor,'” said a man who dodged McDonnell’s gunfire as he left the 7-Eleven, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
McDonnell finally turned his gun on the man’s daughter and 1-year-old granddaughter, who were stuck inside a parked car while he threatened them.
“I said, ‘Please don’t shoot. I don’t have any money. You can take my car. You can take anything you want. Please don’t shoot,’ ” the daughter told the court.
McDonnell then pointed the rifle at the baby in the back seat of the family car before getting into his own car and driving away.
“I heard him say he was God and that there is an upcoming war coming,” the daughter said.
McDonnell’s brother Shawn McDonnell, 34, and Shawn’s then-wife, Kayleigh Lewis, 29, were allegedly in the killer’s vehicle at the time and participated in the heinous crime, which lasted 11 hours and proceeded across the state line into Arizona.
The rampage concluded after a high-speed chase and gunfire with Arizona state troopers, in which one officer was shot.
Prosecutors said Christopher McDonnell’s sister-in-law was driving while he and his brother fired from the car’s windows. The court found Lewis guilty in the case, but the allegations against her remain unclear, and her scheduled sentence is in June. Shawn McDonnell is still awaiting his trial, according to Fox 16.
Clark County District Judge Tierra Jones sentenced Christopher McDonnell to life in prison, with no chance of release until 2120, according to KLAS-TV.
“I take full responsibility for my own wrongdoings, and I appreciate the courts for administering justice,” the convicted killer said in a written statement, according to the outlet.
McDonnell’s lawyer described him as a “troubled, troubled person” and asked for a sentence ranging from 21 to 52 years, while prosecutors sought the maximum term due to the “heinous and random nature of these crimes,” according to WKRC.
The killing spree targeted more than a dozen people, according to police.
The attack injured Mendiola’s brother and girlfriend, as well as a female driver, but all survived.
“The hurt, the pain, the guilt, and the stress that these three individuals put on my family … our lives will never be the same,” Mendiola’s brother Christevin Mendiola told the court.
“He saved me, and I’ll never know why,” Mendiola’s girlfriend, Jayde Libby, said of the tragic slain man.
