A Mascotte man was sentenced to life in prison in a Lake County court, seven years after he was arrested for killing a man during an argument that turned physical.
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In April, a jury convicted Alexander Aguilar, 35, of second-degree murder for the June 2019 shooting of Juan Ramon Cruz, 35, and aggravated battery for shooting another man in the knee at the scene. On Monday, Judge Cary Rada ordered he remain in prison without the possibility of parole.
“I did something no mother should have done that night, and that was see my son for the very last time, in a body bag,” Aide Cruz, the victim’s mother, said in an impact statement. “His death devastated our family, and now my two young granddaughters, his daughters, will have to grow up without their dad.”
According to investigators, Cruz and a group of friends were drinking at a house in Mascotte when Aguilar and others arrived. At some point, an argument broke out between Aguilar and Cruz’s brother that turned physical. When Aguilar returned to his truck, he took a gun out of of the glove compartment and soon after shot at Cruz, killing him and injuring a witness.
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Aguilar told investigators he shot Cruz in self-defense, believing he was armed when during the encounter, a claim rejected by jurors at trial. He then fled the scene only to be arrested in Sumter County during a traffic stop.
The trial was delayed several times by prosecutors and defense attorneys in the seven years following Aguilar’s arrest. In addition to the life sentence, the judge gave him 25 years on the aggravated battery charge.
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