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Teen sentenced to life in prison for fatal drive-by shooting near Des Moines East High School
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Teen sentenced to life in prison for fatal drive-by shooting near Des Moines East High School

Another Iowa teenager was sentenced to life in prison Monday for a deadly 2022 shooting near Des Moines East High School.

Alex Santiago Perdomo, 17, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder last year. Perdomo was 15 at the time of the shooting, according to a Polk County prosecutor who said he will have the opportunity for parole. Public defense attorneys did not immediately respond to calls seeking comment Monday.

Police said Perdomo was among 10 teenagers, ages 14 to 18, who drove in multiple vehicles to a neighborhood near East High School, just a half-mile from the Iowa Capitol. Details of their plans are unclear, but police said the teens ended their feud and opened fire on Jose Lopez, his sister, one of his friends and two other teenagers who were standing on a nearby sidewalk.

The gunshots hit Lopez, her sister, and their friends, killing Lopez and seriously wounding the girls.

Perdomo became the second teenager in the group to receive a life sentence after pleading guilty to first-degree murder. A third teenager who pleaded guilty to first-degree murder will be sentenced to prison after he turns 18 next year, prosecutors said.

The other four people who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 20 to 70 years. A member of the group who pleaded guilty to supplying a handgun or handgun to a person under 21 was given a four-year suspended prison sentence.

The remaining two defendants were sentenced to 20 years in prison each for various crimes.