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A Riverside County Superior Court has handed down a 49-year to life sentence to Kevin Alfredo Hernandez, 26, of San Bernardino, for the second-degree murder of 25-year-old Jose Rondan, also from San Bernardino. The sentencing took place today following Hernandez’s conviction in October for the fatal shooting that occurred outside the University Lounge hookah bar in Riverside in 2021.
The jury found Hernandez guilty of second-degree murder alongside charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm and additional sentence-enhancing allegations related to the use of a gun and causing great bodily injury. During the sentencing hearing, presided over by Judge Charles Koosed at the Riverside Hall of Justice, the legally mandated sentence was imposed.
Testimony from Riverside Police Detective Joshua Ontko during the 2022 preliminary hearing detailed the events leading up to the shooting. Hernandez, Rondan, and Rondan’s girlfriend had visited the University Lounge on the evening of March 13, 2021. After leaving to purchase alcohol and returning to consume it in the parking lot, an argument broke out over misplaced keys, eventually escalating into a physical confrontation between Hernandez and Rondan. Rondan was reported to have physically attacked Hernandez, leading to Hernandez drawing a firearm and shooting Rondan three times in the chest, resulting in immediate fatality.