3 months ago
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A 33-year-old man from Phoenix responsible for one the more brutal cartel-related murder scenes to ever unfold in Southern California was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole Wednesday, prosecutors announced.
On Nov. 9, 2015, officers with the Orange Police Department responded to reports of a burning SUV in a residential neighborhood on Oakmont Street just after 2 p.m., where bystanders were attempting to douse the flames with a garden hose.
All three men in the SUV had been shot multiple times in the head and the chest. One of the victims found with his hands tied had also been stabbed. Authorities say he was found to have soot in his lungs, meaning he was still alive when fire consumed the vehicle.
Surveillance cameras captured 33-year-old Raul Gastellum Flores jumping out of the driver’s seat of the SUV on Oakmont Street moments before it burst into flames with the bodies inside.
The 33-year-old then escaped to a waiting sedan occupied by two other men.
Later, at an apartment in Orange, Flores met up with a co-conspirator who, along with unidentified gunmen, had kidnapped an associate of the three victims in the SUV.
The crew proceeded to steal safes, cash and more than $60,000 worth of heroin from the apartment, authorities said.
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