A man was convicted Wednesday of the 2021 shooting deaths of two men in Long Beach.
Jurors deliberated about an hour before finding Efren Abril, 25, of Long Beach, guilty of two counts of first-degree murder for the Aug. 5, 2021, killings of 29-year-old Antonio Parra and 28-year-old Brian Gomez, both of Long Beach.
The victims were gunned down in the early hours of the morning on Anaheim Street near Locust Avenue. Authorities have not determined a motive for the killings, the prosecutor said.
The jury also found that Abril personally used a firearm during the commission of the crime, along with convicting him of one count each of being a felon in possession of a firearm and unlawful possession of ammunition prohibited by a prior conviction.
Abril is due back in a Long Beach courtroom for sentencing Dec. 4.
He could face over 100 years to life in state prison, according to Deputy District Attorney Karen Brako.
In her closing argument, the prosecutor told jurors that cell phone records showed that Abril was in the area of the shooting, and said the defendant’s jailhouse statements to undercover operatives involved information that “no one else” but the gunman would know.
She noted that he was asked by one of the jailhouse operatives, “What did these guys do?” and said that Abril responded, “Nothing.”
Abril also told the jailhouse operatives that eight to 10 rounds were fired, the prosecutor said, noting that nine cartridge casings were found at the scene.
“This defendant did it … This defendant is guilty of all of the crimes charged,” Brako told the panel.
Defense attorney Greg Cummings said it was “a tragedy” that “two young men lost their lives,” but he said it would “compound this tragedy” if the wrong person was wrongfully convicted of the killings.
He argued that the police investigation was “inadequate” and the evidence against his client was “simply lacking.”
Abril’s lawyer told jurors his client was “thrown into a jail cell” with two people posing as hardened criminals. He maintained that the undercover jailhouse operation — which he called “an environment where everyone is lying to impress each other” — was not going to yield reliable statements.
“Reasonable doubt abounds in this case,” Cummings said, urging the jury to acquit his client.
Just over a month after the shooting, police announced that homicide detectives had gathered evidence to identify the shooter as Abril, whom police said was being held at the time in an Orange County jail on an unrelated case.