A Sylmar man who fatally shot a Long Beach woman that was an innocent bystander in a Downtown parking lot in 2018 was sentenced Thursday to 89 years to life in state prison, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Thomas McCreary, 46, was convicted of murder by a jury on Aug. 3. He was also found guilty of being a felon in possession of a firearm and two penalty enhancements of personally and intentionally using a firearm to produce great bodily injury.
A few hours before the fatal shooting the morning of Dec. 1, 2018, McCreary was out celebrating his girlfriend’s and nephew’s birthdays in Downtown Long Beach, authorities said.
After returning to his car, which was parked in a Downtown lot between Pine and Pacific avenues on Third Street, McCreary got into an argument with a group of people who then attacked his car with a skateboard.
That’s when McCreary took out a handgun and shot at the group. Instead, the bullet wound up striking 24-year-old Anna Perez, who was more than 40 feet away and had just returned to the parking lot with her friends moments earlier. When first responders arrived, they pronounced her dead.
McCreary was arrested on Dec. 6, 2018, although the gun that was used in the shooting was never found. McCreary’s girlfriend, his nephew and his children’s mother were also arrested and convicted of accessory after the fact after authorities said they helped McCreary try to avoid arrest and prosecution in the days following the shooting.
In August, Perez’s mother, Brenda Colon, told the Post that she had felt stuck since her daughter’s death. But after the verdict, she said her “heart doesn’t feel so heavy anymore.”
Family and friends continue to remember Perez as a beautiful young woman who was flamboyant, full of life and always looking to make people smile.
Many, including Colon, have also gotten large butterfly tattoos meant to represent her.
“She would always say: ‘If I die, I want to be a butterfly and travel the world,’” Colon said.
Man found guilty of murder for shooting innocent bystander in Downtown parking lot