By Garrett Cabeza, The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash. The Tribune Content Agency
A 41-year-old man was sentenced last month to 9 1/2 years in prison after admitting to shooting and killing 47-year-old Samuel Perez more than three years ago in the parking lot of the Star Restaurant and Lounge near Gonzaga University.
Ivan Lopez-Gutierrez pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm before Spokane County Superior Court Judge Tony Hazel passed down the 114-month sentence. Lopez was originally charged with second-degree murder.
The sentence stems from the early morning hours of Aug. 2, 2021, when Lopez-Gutierrez, a female acquaintance and her nephew were drinking at the Star Restaurant and Lounge, a karaoke bar on Hamilton Street, after the three spent the evening at a Cheney rodeo, according to the trio in court documents.
The woman told police she sent a message to Perez that they were at the Star and asked him to join them. Perez joined them at the table, drank a beer and provided the woman with a cocktail.
She said Perez and Lopez-Gutierrez did not talk to each other, and there was "tension," documents say. She told police Lopez-Gutierrez seemed jealous of Perez and, at one point, he punched Perez while they were both seated at the table. The two men were separated, and the woman escorted Perez to the door.
She said in documents Perez returned shortly after, saying he contacted his family and would be leaving. He also told Lopez-Gutierrez he would see him outside. The woman's nephew said Lopez-Gutierrez agreed to meet Perez outside.
Lopez-Gutierrez, the woman and her nephew left the bar a short time later, and Lopez-Gutierrez appeared mad, she told police.
Lopez-Gutierrez walked to his silver 2008 Nissan Pathfinder in the parking lot and appeared to be looking for something in the back of the SUV. The nephew said Lopez-Gutierrez told him he was looking for his gun.
The woman's nephew followed Lopez-Gutierrez to the SUV and appeared to tell him not to fight Perez, she said.
She then saw Perez come out of an alley toward the driver's door of a silver sedan parked a few parking spaces from Lopez-Gutierrez's SUV.
The sedan was occupied by Perez's nephew, who told police Perez called him saying two people were trying to fight him and asked to be picked up at the Star.
She and her nephew said they approached the driver of the sedan and told him to take Perez away from the bar to avoid a fight. Perez walked off toward Lopez-Gutierrez, and the woman and her nephew heard two gunshots and saw Perez fall to the ground.
The woman's nephew told police he saw Lopez-Gutierrez pull the slide on a pistol before Perez made a "surprised sound," and then gunshots followed.
She and her nephew ran to their vehicle and got onto eastbound Interstate 90, they said. They said they saw Lopez-Gutierrez's SUV pass by them.
After the gunshots, Perez's nephew said he got out of his sedan and recorded on his cellphone, according to documents. He said he saw his uncle lying on his back near the rear of the SUV while Lopez-Gutierrez was now seated in the driver's seat of the SUV.
He said Lopez-Gutierrez then pointed a gun at him as he was recording, and then the defendant drove away.
Police officers found Perez dead in the parking lot with a group standing around him and others trying to render aid, documents say. Officers located three discharged bullet casings on the ground near Perez. Besides Perez, the Star, a vehicle and a residence were struck by gunfire.
People in and near the bar reported hearing gunshots and responding to Perez, who was declared dead at 1:38 a.m., court records say.
Officers located Lopez-Gutierrez at 1:47 a.m. in his vehicle near his South Hill residence. They detained him.
Police say he appeared extremely intoxicated as he struggled to keep his balance and stumbled in an interview room. Lopez-Gutierrez said he did not recall what happened after drinking at the Star. His next recollection was his contact with police. Officers found a 9 mm pistol in his SUV.
Court documents indicate Lopez-Gutierrez had a felony vehicle theft conviction in 2003 in California that prohibited him from having a gun. He was deported from the U.S. in 2004 because of the vehicle theft and was prohibited from re-entering the country, documents say.
Lopez-Gutierrez will serve three years of probation after he's released from prison.