SAN DIEGO — A Southern California man who killed four people and attacked more than a dozen by setting them on fire or impaling them with railroad spikes, has been sentenced to life in prison.
Jon David Guerrero, 43, pleaded guilty last year to murder, attempted murder and arson in more than a dozen attacks in 2016 of mostly homeless men he targetted as they slept on the street
Some were set on fire with gasoline and others had railroad spikes driven through their heads or chests. One survivor of a spike attack was blinded in one eye, prosecutors said.
Three murder victims were homeless: Angelo DeNardo, 53; Shawn Longley, 41; and Dionicio Vahidy, 23. Another victim, 83-year-old Molly Simmons, wasn’t homeless. Authorities said she was fatally struck in the head from behind while walking to a bus stop on her way to volunteer at a YMCA.
Although a motive wasn’t disclosed, trial testimony indicated that he told one survivor, “because you’re a bum.”
Guerrero, who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, had a history of arrests and mental competency hearings. He was initially declared mentally incompetent to stand trial in 2017 and sent to Patton State Hospital but later was ruled able to stand trial.
He was sentenced in San Diego Superior Court to life without possibility of parole with an additional 143 years to life in prison.
