A 30-year-old man has been sentenced to 42 years in prison for killing his ex-girlfriend last year at a Phoenix Burger King.

Gerardo Vazquez Alvarez killed the mother of his children on April 12, 2023, at the west Phoenix restaurant.

Witnesses told Phoenix police that Alvarez arrived at the restaurant, ordered food and waited for the victim to come to the front counter before walking over and shooting her, according to a release from the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office.

 One of the victim’s coworkers, a teenager, was also critically injured. Before the shooting, Alvarez and the victim had been arguing over the phone about their relationship and children, the release stated.

“Not only did a young mother lose her life that night, but multiple young people were also put in harm’s way and will have to live with the trauma of what they saw and heard due to the defendant’s callous actions,” Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said.

“In committing this offense, he altered many lives, but most of all, those of his own young children.”

Alvarez pleaded guilty in April 2024 to one count of second-degree murder, one count of attempt to commit second-degree murder and one count of disorderly conduct.

The MCAO release stated during the sentencing, the parents of the victim told the court: “She was an exemplary mother…she guarded her children so much because they were her greatest treasure, but now she has left such a huge void in us.”

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