Suspect in May 2020 Levelland fatal shooting sentenced to 55 years in prison

A 25-year-old Levelland man was sentenced Friday to 55-years in prison after a jury found him guilty of murder in the shooting death of a 31-year-old man he said was self defense.

Earlier that day, jurors in the 286th District Court deliberated for about 2 hours before finding Brennon Gage Guerra guilty of murder in the May 2, 2020 shooting death of Anthony Delgado.

Guerra faced between five years to life in prison. Jurors deliberated for about 30 minutes before returning with the 55-year prison sentence that Hockley County District Attorney Angela Overman said was a multi-agency effort.

The verdict and sentence came after a trial that started Tuesday when jurors were seated.

During the trial, prosecutors presented evidence they believed showed Guerra's actions were unjustified.

Guerra's charge stemmed from a May 2, 2020 homicide investigation by the Levelland Police Department after a 7 p.m. shots fired call in the 400 block of Cedar Avenue.

Responding offices found Delgado suffering a gunshot wound in his torso.

"The bullet traveled from his liver, through his pancreas, out his kidney," Overman said.

He was taken by ambulance to Covenant Health in Lubbock where he died about five hours later.

As officers investigated the shooting, Guerra called police, saying he shot someone and wanted to surrender, police officials said. Officers found him in the 1100 block of Sherman Avenue where he was taken into custody.

Overman said Guerra surrendered to authorities after his parents convinced him to surrender when he called them saying he was being threatened for shooting Delgado.

"Even when he turned himself in and even when he spoke with authorities, his primary concern was his safety, whether he was going to get personal confinement, whether he was going to be in protective custody," she said.

Jurors heard two versions of events, one from Guerra's statement to authorities and the one from the witness stand.

Guerra told investigators that he went to Delgado's home to confront him about allegations a woman made that day saying Delgado "tried" to do something to her.

"It appeared that both the defendant and the victim were interested in this female," Overman said.

Guerra told jurors that he knocked on the front door of Delgado's' home. He said he rethought the plan when Delgado answered the door, standing to the side.

He said he went to the rear of the residence and banged on the back door.

In his statement to investigators, he said Delgado looked out of the blinds, saw him and answered the door and Guerra said drew his gun from his waistbands.

However, in court, Guerra said he didn't pull his weapon until he saw a pipe in Delgado's hands.

A witness who was in the apartment told jurors she saw Guerra backing away unarmed.

Overman said a witness told jurors that Delgado described his relationship with Guerra as someone he took under his wing.

In fact, days before the shooting, Delgado showed Guerra how to assemble, disassemble and clean the weapon, which Guerra bought weeks before the shooting.

Overman said Guerra initially lied to authorities about what happened to the weapon before admitting that he gave the weapon to a friend, which has resulted in a tampering charge against him. The weapon has not been recovered.

Overman said she argued to jurors that Guerra's testimony voided his self-defense claim because not only did he admit to taking a gun to a fight that he started, he disregarded other avenues he had to escape the confrontation if he were truly afraid of Delgado.

"He had several opportunities to retreat, or run away or walk away," Overman said.

"That was my whole thing, 'You brought the fight,'" she said.

Prosecutors also played Guerra's jail calls from women complaining to him about men who mistreated them, saying they were on a list of people he was going to "take care of."

Overman asked the jury to send Guerra to prison for life.

She said the jury's verdict satisfied the ends of justice.

"I think that the jury did an outstanding job reaching a very difficult decision," she said. "They served justice and they did it well. At the end of the day we had the right outcome."

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Man sentenced in 2020 Levelland murder case