Man sentenced for 1987 double killing in California

SAN DIEGO (AP) —

A Southern California man who fled to Mexico after killing two people in 1987 following an argument over beer at a child’s birthday party was sentenced Friday to 34 years to life in prison.

Jose Solorio, 62, was sentenced in San Diego Superior Court. He was convicted in May of second-degree murder for the slayings at an apartment in Ramona, near San Diego.

Solorio killed German Aviles, 26, and Ventura Aviles, 21 and wounded two other men during a birthday party for Aviles’ 4-year-old daughter, prosecutors said.

“Solorio got into an argument with the victims and other men over getting more beer for the party. The defendant became offended over an insult directed at him. He left the party and returned with a loaded handgun,” said a statement from the San Diego County district attorney’s office.

While standing in the doorway, Solorio gunned down German and Aviles, then wounded a third man in the apartment and a man outside who was returning with the beer, prosecutors said.

Solorio fled to Mexico for 32 years. He taken into custody in 2019 and extradited to California.