18-year-old sentenced to 7 years in fatal shooting

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Newlyweds Rienheart Asuncion and Love. Asuncion was killed in a road rage accident in San Lorenzo 2022.

SAN LORENZO, Calif. - An 18-year-old man was sentenced to seven years in juvenile detention in a 2022 San Lorenzo shooting death, the Alameda County Sheriff's Office said Friday.

Sergio Morales-Jacquez, 18, was sentenced in the Sept. 18, 2022 shooting death of Rienheart Asuncion, the sheriff's office said on social media.

According to the sheriff's office, Asuncion was murdered after what Sheriff's Office detectives believe was a road rage incident on Lewelling Boulevard near Hesperian Boulevard in San Lorenzo. Morales-Jacquez was 17 at the time.

San Lorenzo road rage shooting that killed Rienheart Asuncion

"The investigation revealed Asuncion was shot and killed by 17-year-old Sergio Morales-Jacquez, who was driving a stolen vehicle," the sheriff's office posted on social media Friday.

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Morales-Jacquez fled the scene in the allegedly stolen vehicle, according to the sheriff's office.

During the investigation, detectives learned Morales-Jacquez was in custody at the Juvenile Justice Center for unrelated gun charges, the sheriff's office said. He was also a person of interest in two additional homicides in neighboring jurisdictions at that time, according to the sheriff's office.

Morales-Jacquez was charged with Asuncion's murder in November 2022. A petition to have him charged as an adult was denied, and he was charged as a juvenile for the murder of Asuncion in March 2023, the sheriff's office said. Juvenile offenders are held at the Juvenile Justice Center up to the age of 25.

Morales-Jacquez was sentenced to seven years but could be afforded probation sooner, according to the sheriff's office.