Two Long Beach men were sentenced to lengthy prison terms Friday, July 12, for the 2021 shooting death of a man they knew outside a North Long Beach horse stable.
Luis Barrios, 56, received 25 years to life in state prison, and Leonel Zapien Martinez, 34, was sentenced to 35 years to life. A Long Beach Superior Court jury in May convicted them of murder and conspiracy in the December 2021 death of Abelardo Ramirez Bonilla, 46, also known as “Tato,” a courtroom clerk said. Jurors also found that Martinez personally used a firearm in the killing.
Martinez was identified during trial as the triggerman who shot Bonilla six times as Bonilla left the 72nd Street Arena along 72nd Street at Atlantic Place. Barrios drove Martinez to and from the scene of the shooting and also picked up the gun from a third defendant, Eleazar Lopez, according to evidence presented during trial.
All four men knew each other and liked to hang out at the stables, prosecutor Kenneth Chiu said during trial, but tensions rose after Lopez began dating Bonilla’s ex-girlfriend, then suspected her of continuing to see Bonilla because they still exchanged messages and phone calls.
The suspicion and jealousy grew and, at some point, a plan was formed to kill Bonilla, the prosecutor said during closing arguments in May.
Barrios’ public defender, Jennifer Valdez, said there was no evidence Barrios was involved in the planning or agreed to kill Bonilla. But Chiu played a portion of a jailhouse interview in which Barrios admitted to an undercover agent that he knew about the plan and did nothing to stop it.
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Malika Djafar, who represented Martinez, said there was no physical evidence that tied Martinez to the murder and that cell phone data showed it was at his home that night.
Barrios used his brother-in-law’s pickup truck the night of the murder, Chiu said. He checked the stables first to make sure Bonilla’s SUV was there, then left and came back a short time later with Martinez. The two men waited for Bonilla to exit the stables and when he did, Martinez got out of the truck, walked up to Bonilla’s driver’s side, yelled something to get his attention, then fired six shots, at least one of which was close enough that the barrel of the gun was touching Bonilla’s head.
The sound of yelling and shots fired was captured on a nearby surveillance camera, but the men were not in frame. The truck Barrios drove that night had distinct features and was seen on camera near the stables shortly before the shooting.
The victim was found slumped over and bloodied in the driver’s seat of the SUV two hours later with the engine still running and headlights on after a nearby resident called police and said they thought they had heard shots fired earlier in the night, Chiu said.
Barrios was arrested days after the murder and Martinez was taken into custody more than two months later after his landlord came forward and told police Martinez had admitted to him that he shot the victim.
Lopez was arrested nine months after the shooting and faces charges of murder and conspiracy, according to court records. He will be tried at a later date.
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