45 years in prison for man who killed father, son at Auburn bus stop

Froilan Hermenegildo gunned down a father and son when he was only 19.

On Friday, the now-20-year-old learned he will spend the next 45-years in prison.

Hermenegildo pleaded guilty last month to murdering 19-year old Angel Mireles and his father, 40-year-old Mark Rivera in October of 2015.

Mireles and Rivera were sitting at a bus stop near the intersection of B Street Southeast and 17^th Street Southeast when Hermenegildo stopped the stolen vehicle he was driving.

Mireles and Hermenegildo exchanged words.

Hermenegildo opened fire, killing Mireles instantly.

Rivera rushed to help his son and was also shot. He died the next day.

At his sentencing hearing, Hermenegildo sat stone-faced in a courtroom at the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent as those who loved his victims wept and held each other.

“My grandson and my first-born were murdered,” Susan Rivera Rodriguez told the judge.

"You don't bury your grandkids and you don't bury your kids," she said through tears.

The deaths have "taken a great toll and impacted my family, having to deal with the loss," Rivera's wife and Mireles' mother told the court.

"I am here today to seek justice for my husband and my son," Victoria Rivera said.

Hermenegildo's attorney, David Hammerstad, had asked for a sentence of 25 years, citing his client's abusive and neglectful childhood, and the early influence of gang violence.

In his pre-sentence report, Hammerstad also blamed fetal alcohol syndrome and youthful indiscretion for Hermenegildo's actions that day.

However, Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney John Castleton told the judge Hermenegildo was high on methamphetamine when he opened fire on the father and son.

"This was an extremely tragic event," Castleton said, "that ruined the lives of numerous people."

The judge listened to arguments and multiple victims' impact statements, then sentenced Hermenegildo to 45 years in prison.

Hermenegildo did not speak when given the opportunity.

His victims’ loved ones had plenty to say.

"He knows right from wrong, and to murder two people in cold blood is the most horrible crime a person can commit" family friend Carrie Frazier said.

The victims' cousin and niece, Sarah Espinoza, talked about her pain since her family's loss.

“I’ve been told it gets easier with time, but I have yet to feel it.”

Cox Media Group