Former ice cream driver to be sentenced this week after deadly 2010 capturing

Paz Quezada has tried to arrange for today for greater than a decade.

On Friday, the person convicted in March of killing her two sons and wounding 4 others in a 2010 capturing will lastly be sentenced. Friday can also be her birthday, and her solely want is one she has held onto because the night time of the assault: that the person who tore her tight-knit household aside be put away for the remainder of his life. 

“It’s the very best reward God may give me,” Quezada, instructed NBC Information by means of tears. She stated she prayed for the energy to dwell to see the day her sons would have justice. “I hold preventing for my sons. I’ll always remember them.”

Juan Guitron, 28, and Sergio Guitron, 22, have been fatally shot, and 4 others have been severely wounded in November 2010 on the entrance porch of a house in Ruskin, Florida, the place household and pals had gathered to have a good time the Thanksgiving vacation.

Michael Keetley, a former ice cream truck driver, was convicted in March of two counts of homicide and 4 counts of tried homicide within the assaults. He faces life in jail with out parole.

Throughout the trial, prosecutors stated Keetley had develop into obsessive about revenge after he was robbed and shot whereas on his ice cream route a couple of yr earlier than the murders. Keetley had been annoyed with legislation enforcement’s investigation of the theft, prosecutors stated, which left him wounded and in want of bodily remedy.

Prosecutors stated Keetley started his personal investigation, coming to the false conclusion {that a} man nicknamed “Creeper” was behind the theft.

His revenge plot culminated in a lethal case of mistaken identification. The individuals killed and injured had nothing to do with Keetley’s theft, prosecutors stated. Nor did the person nicknamed Creeper, who was not among the many six males shot on the home in Ruskin, police stated.

“God is aware of that my sons have been harmless. They didn’t harm anybody,” stated Quezada, who tightly clutched a cross necklace that when belonged to Sergio as a responsible verdict was learn greater than 12 years after her sons have been killed.

Quezada stated she and her sons have been inseparable, particularly after the dying of the boy’s father just a few years earlier. She recalled that after the funeral when the three have been alone, they cried, held arms “and made a pact to be united, at all times,” she stated.

“The three of us have been like one individual,” she stated.

They nonetheless lived at dwelling collectively and Quezada stated her sons preferred to have pals and cousins over for cookouts. Sergio beloved to prepare dinner, she stated, making fajitas, hamburgers and carne asada. On Mom’s Day, her sons would ship flowers to her at her job, she stated.

They have been additionally accountable and hardworking. Sergio labored for a medical elements firm and Juan labored for a settee firm, Quezada stated.

“They have been beloved by everybody,” she stated.

Quezada stated the assault devastated her household and the lives of the others who have been severely wounded. 

Richard Cantu, a cousin of the Guitrons who was shot within the head in the course of the assault, believes, alongside together with his household, that justice has lastly been served as they await Keetley’s sentencing.

Cantu suffered mind injury because of his damage and has needed to relearn to stroll and speak, whereas his household waited greater than a decade and endured a 2020 trial that ended with a hopelessly deadlocked jury.

“It was a really excruciating 12 years and two trials later,” Cantu’s brother, Frankie Cantu, stated, whereas alongside his brother. 

Throughout emotional testimony, survivors of the capturing described how a person ambushed them as they have been taking part in poker and consuming beer on the porch in Ruskin. 

Gonzalo Guevara, who was shot 4 occasions, testified that an armed white man carrying a T-shirt with the phrase “sheriff” on it got here as much as the group, demanding to know the place Creeper was and telling them to get down and present him their IDs. 

Guevara stated the group instructed the person Creeper was not there and as they acquired down on their knees, the person started capturing them. He stated he was shot as soon as in his left hand, twice in his torso and as soon as in his bottom. 

Guevara stated he heard his pals “crying and screaming” as extra pictures rang out.

Daniel Beltron, who was additionally shot a number of occasions, broke down on the stand as he described the gunman capturing Juan Guitron after which placing a gun to Richard Cantu’s head earlier than capturing him.

“It went from the underside of his head, after which I see a giant gap come out of his head and it landed all in my face,” he stated, crying.

Guevara stated he recognized a photograph of Keetley to police as the person he noticed shoot him and his pals. He stated he started “crying and shaking” when he noticed Keetley’s picture as a result of he acknowledged the person from the assault. 

Guevara stated he instructed police he was “2,000% positive that he was the man that shot me” and identified Keetley as his assailant within the courtroom.

The protection argued the survivors of the capturing recognized the incorrect man and that Keetley was not able to committing the assault due to accidents he sustained when he was shot and robbed months earlier. 

“That is our protection, Michael Keetley will not be responsible as a result of he didn’t do it. Michael Keetley didn’t do it, he couldn’t do it. He isn’t medically succesful,” protection legal professional John Grant stated throughout trial.

Richard Escobar, one other member of the protection, argued that legislation enforcement made a number of errors after the 2010 assault, saying “the investigation that adopted was nothing in need of a nightmare itself.”

The jury discovered Keetley responsible after deliberating over three days.

Susan Lopez, the Hillsborough County state legal professional, stated on the time, “In the present day is concerning the victims, all six of the victims and it’s our workplace’s hope and prayer that in the present day’s verdict will start to deliver closure from the nightmare that they’ve all needed to dwell.”

Richard Cantu stated the conviction within the second trial meant the world to his household and stated he felt “relieved” and at “peace” after the trial. Now he and his cousins have lastly been granted “justice,” he stated.

Frankie Cantu stated the truth that his brother and cousins have been focused in a case of vigilantism and mistaken identification has made the entire ordeal much more tough.

“You don’t anticipate one thing like that to occur. My household and pals have been focused for no cause,” Frankie Cantu stated.