Ashland man sentenced to up to 120 years in prison for fatal Omaha shooting

Douglas County District Court Judge J. Russell Derr sentenced Luis Hernandez-Melendez to 60 to 80 years in prison for second-degree murder, 30 to 40 years for first-degree assault and 20 to 30 years for using a firearm to commit a crime. in connection with the shooting. Murder and assault charges will be served concurrently or at the same time, while firearms-related charges will be served consecutively.

According to court records, police were called to the Citadel Apartments on the evening of July 23, 2023, on reports of two men shot in the head inside a Mazda sedan.

Luis Romero-Rodriguez, 28, was found in the backseat of the Mazda and was pronounced dead at the scene. Jose Lapop-Flores, 24, who was behind the wheel, was taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries.

Hernandez-Melendez was initially charged with first-degree murder for Romero-Rodriguez’s killing, but the charge was reduced to second-degree murder as part of a plea deal. Prosecutors also dropped an additional charge of using a firearm to commit a crime.

Hernández-Melendez faced a maximum sentence of life in prison with a mandatory minimum sentence of 26 years. If he behaves well, he could be eligible for parole after 40 years, Derr said.

Prosecutor Ann Miller said during sentencing Tuesday that Lapop-Flores was transferred to Guatemala by his family while he was still in a life-threatening condition. He had no brain activity at the time and the prosecutor’s office is no longer able to contact his family, she said.

Miller argued that the shooting appeared to be motivated by the fact that the two victims had promised Hernandez-Melendez a small amount of cocaine, which they did not give him.

“It was less than a bag of cocaine,” she said.

Speaking in Spanish through a translator, Ramiro-Rodriguez’s sister, Emily Melissa Ramiro-Rodriguez, said the loss of her brother tore her family apart and left a son without a father.

Hernandez-Melendez’s public defender, Tamara Mosby, argued that he had no criminal record, had local family support and was financially supporting three children in Guatemala. Hernandez-Melendez had accepted responsibility for what happened and admitted he had drug and alcohol problems, which contributed to the shooting, Mosby said.

Surveillance footage during the shooting showed three vehicles – a white Ford pickup truck, the white Mazda sedan and a gray SUV – traveling “in procession with each other” before the three cars pulled into the rear of the parking lot of the Citadel apartments, according to court documents.

The video captured a man in a red shirt near the Mazda before two shots rang out. The gray SUV and white truck both fled the scene after shots were fired, according to court documents.

Alvin Melendez, Hernandez-Melendez’s nephew, was located July 25 and agreed to be interviewed by detectives. He said that on the day of the homicide, he received a phone call from Hernández-Melendez asking him to take him.

When Melendez arrived at a gas station near 72nd and Grover streets to pick up his uncle, he noticed several people were present: Romero-Rodriguez and Lapop-Flores, the two shooting victims; Hernández-Melendez and Hernández-Melendez’s wife, Valeria Vasquez; and three other associates of Hernández-Melendez.

Melendez said Hernandez-Melendez got into the van and drove to the Citadel Apartments, followed by Romero-Rodriguez and Lapop-Flores in the white Mazda. Vasquez and two others followed in the gray SUV.

According to Melendez, Hernández-Melendez got out of the van after they arrived at the apartment complex and shot the white Mazda twice. They then fled the scene and Hernandez-Melendez and Vasquez returned to their home in Ashland.

After initially denying she was present during the shooting, Vasquez later revised her account and said she saw her husband shoot the victims as they sat inside their vehicle.

Vasquez initially faced an accessory charge in connection with the shooting, but she pleaded no contest to obstructing a peace officer and was sentenced to 18 months of probation.

Melendez pleaded guilty to an accessory charge in exchange for dropping the tampering with evidence charge. He was also scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday.