In a highly unusual case from Keene, Texas, authorities sentenced Ashley Marmolejo Gomez to 25 years in prison after pleading guilty to murder. According to her conviction, she armed her 12-year-old nephew, who then fatally shot a Sonic Drive-In employee during a confrontation over public urination in the restaurant’s parking lot.
The tragic incident occurred in May 2023 when a Sonic employee caught the boy’s uncle, Angel Gomez, urinating in the Sonic parking lot. When employee Matthew Davis asked him to stop, a physical altercation broke out. Police allege that Marmolejo Gomez, who was in a vehicle with other children, handed her nephew an AR-style rifle and directed him to intervene. The nephew then exited the car and fatally shot Davis. The group initially fled the scene but later returned and confessed.
“This is justice”
After pleading guilty to murder, Ashley Marmolejo Gomez was sentenced Friday to 25 years in state prison.https://t.co/zJPWLlndbr
— NBC Los Angeles (@NBCLA) October 4, 2025
Marmolejo Gomez was initially charged with manslaughter but was later indicted for murder after a grand jury determined she had provided the firearm and instructed the child to shoot. In October 2025, she pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 25 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
Because of his age, the nephew, who was the shooter, was found “delinquent of murder” in juvenile court as opposed to “guilty of murder” and sentenced to 12 years in the Texas Juvenile Justice Division.
Following the guilty plea, Davis’ mother, Leigh Miller, said, “This is justice that we’ve been waiting for. Of course, with a death like this, you want them to be life in prison, but this is a good sentence for her, and we will continue to fight to keep her locked behind bars even when she comes up for parole.”
Miller also plans legal action against the restaurant chain. “The fight is not over because Sonic was negligent, and that’s where we’re headed now. Sonic won’t get away with their negligence either,” Miller told the Texas news outlet KXAS.
