SAN
DIEGO – Two teenage gang members were sentenced in federal court today
to 25 years in prison for attempting to murder a target of the Sinaloa
Cartel, and for the collateral death of a fellow gang member who was
fatally shot during one of the failed murder attempts.
“California
Senate Bill 1391 made state prosecutions of 14- and 15-year-olds a
practical impossibility regardless of the seriousness of the crime.
Then, the Sinaloa Cartel and the Mexican Mafia-affiliated Westside
Wilmas recruited accordingly,” said U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon, “No. No
to the Sinaloa Cartel recruiting juveniles. No to the Mexican Mafia
directing gangland hits in San Diego. No to a lack of consequences for
juveniles who would do their bidding.”
“The
sentencing of these teenagers sends a clear message: individuals who
commit acts of violence, regardless of age, will be held fully
accountable under the law,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge TJ
Holland of the FBI San Diego Field Office. “The FBI remains steadfast in
our commitment to identify, dismantle, and eliminate the violent gangs,
cartels, and criminal organizations responsible for this violence. FBI
San Diego and our law enforcement partners will continue to investigate
anyone threatening the safety of our communities, including those who
mistakenly believe they can exploit juveniles to carry out violent
crimes without consequence.”
In issuing the court’s sentence, U.S.
District Judge Todd W. Robinson likewise warned that the Sinaloa
Cartel, Mexican Mafia, Westside Wilmas, and similarly situated gangs
“need to be put on notice that you don’t get a pass when you have a
juvenile commit an offense like this.”
Andrew Nunez and Johncarlo
Quintero – who were both 15 at the time of the crimes on March 26 and
27, 2024 – pleaded guilty in December 2025 to murder and attempted
murder charges, admitting they were acting as hired hitmen for the
Sinaloa Cartel when they made two attempts in five hours to kill the
cartel’s target.
Nunez and Quintero were members of the Mexican
Mafia-affiliated Westside Wilmas gang from the greater Los Angeles area.
They drove from Wilmington, California to a Chili’s restaurant in Chula
Vista, where their target was dining with his family.
The target
and his family were leaving the Chili’s restaurant when Quintero and
Nunez pulled up behind them in the parking lot. Quintero got out of the
car and fired a single bullet that struck the victim’s legs. After that
single shot, Quintero’s firearm jammed, and he was unable to unjam the
weapon in time to shoot again. Quintero got back into the car Nunez was
driving, and Nunez attempted unsuccessfully to hit and kill the intended
victim with the vehicle. The teen gunmen then fled the scene.
Later
that night, in the early hours of March 27, 2024, the teen hitmen
showed up at the intended victim’s home to finish the job. They were
joined this time by an older accomplice, 28-year-old Ricardo Sanchez.
Nunez and Quintero each expected to be paid approximately $50,000. The
trio approached the target’s home, carrying at least one firearm apiece.
Two
family members and a friend of the intended victim were present in the
home. Sanchez banged on the front door, and once the friend responded,
Quintero and Nunez shot at the friend and fired indiscriminately at the
family home. According to the plea agreements, Nunez and Quintero acted
with the intent of ending the life of the friend and anyone within the
kill zone they created in targeting the intended victim.
The
friend was shot in the hand, arm, and face by Quintero and Nunez, but he
survived. In response to Quintero and Nunez’s actions, the friend shot
toward Nunez, Quintero and Sanchez to protect himself and the others
within the home and, in so doing, he shot and killed Sanchez—a
provocative-act murder to which Nunez and Quintero pleaded guilty. After
that, the hitmen fled the scene.
The defendants admitted they
were tapped to murder the cartel’s target because they were minors and,
specifically, only 15 at the time. According to admissions in their plea
agreements, the defendants knew—if apprehended for this conduct—that
they were ineligible to be transferred to adult status under the laws of
the State of California because they were under the age of 16 at the
time of the offense. For example, among other discussions Nunez had with
his co-defendant after being arrested, Nunez and Quintero talked about
not being able to “catch a…707” because of their age at the time, which
referred to not being subject to adult transfer under California Welfare
& Institutions Code Section 707.
In February 2026, a federal
grand jury indicted alleged Sinaloa Cartel associates Poly Antunez,
Antonio Quinones, and Jovanny Enriquez for conspiring with the teens to
execute the cartel target. The 15-year-olds were thought to be too young
for serious legal consequences. That indictment charged the defendants
with Conspiracy to Commit Murder in Aid of Racketeering, Attempted
Murder in Aid of Racketeering, Assault with a Dangerous Weapon in Aid of
Racketeering, Conspiracy to Commit Murder for Hire, and Use of
Interstate Facilities in Commission of Murder for Hire. That related
case, Case Number 26cr402-TWR, is pending.
These cases are being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ashley Goff, Peter Horn and Joshua Mellor.
DEFENDANTS Case Number 25cr4822-TWR
Andrew Nunez
aka “Shooter,” aka “Felon” Age: 16 Wilmington, CA
Johncarlo Quintero Age: 17 Wilmington, CA
aka “Dumper”
SUMMARY OF CHARGES
Attempted Murder in Aid of Racketeering (Title 18, U.S.C., Secs. 1959(a)(5) and 2)
Maximum penalty: Ten years in prison, $250,000 fine
Murder in Aid of Racketeering (Title 18, U.S.C., Secs. 1959(a)(1) and 2).
Maximum penalty: Life in prison; $250,000 fine
INVESTIGATING AGENCIES
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Chula Vista Police Department
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
United States Marshals Service
California Highway Patrol
*The
charges and allegations contained in an indictment or complaint are
merely accusations, and the defendants are considered innocent unless
and until proven guilty.
This case is part of the Homeland
Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order
14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a
whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal
cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human
smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and
abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the
full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying,
investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by
these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability
within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special
emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child
trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further
utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent
criminal aliens from the United States. HSTF San Diego comprises agents
and officers from FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, DEA, ATF, U.S.
Marshals, Department of Defense, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Naval
Criminal Investigative Service, IRS Criminal Investigation, U.S. Coast
Guard, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Interpol, with the
prosecution being led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the
Southern District of California.
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