Luiz Mendoza was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Friday for his role in the October 2024 shooting that injured former Denver Broncos receiver Josh Reynolds, a case prosecutors say began with a cocaine deal gone wrong and ended with gunfire tearing through a vehicle on Interstate 25. Mendoza pleaded guilty to first-degree assault and a drug-distribution charge, with a number of other charges dismissed as part of his plea deal.
According to 9NEWS, Mendoza received 28 years for the assault charge and two years for possession with intent to manufacture or distribute a controlled substance, with the sentences handed down Nov. 6. Mendoza was one of nine people charged in connection with the shooting, according to the Denver District Attorney’s Office.
The attack traces back to Oct. 18, 2024, when Reynolds and two friends left Shotgun Willie’s, a strip club in Glendale, Colorado. The station’s report, drawing on prior reporting, describes how the group never should have been targeted at all.
A Case of Mistaken Identity Over a Fake-Money Drug Deal
Court documents indicate a buyer had purchased $250,000 worth of cocaine using counterfeit money, prompting the drug dealer to enlist others to seek revenge, according to the same court records cited in the 9NEWS account. The attackers planned to follow the buyers home and hurt them, per those documents, but instead zeroed in on Reynolds and his companions…