Pasco man ordered to serve 10 years for gang shooting

A Pasco man was sentenced to 10 years in prison Tuesday despite protesting he didn’t fire the gun in the 2014 ambush that killed a young Finley father.

Kenyatta K.E. Bridges, 27, complained Tuesday to Judge Carrie Runge that the shooter already is serving 93 years for the murder outside the Stonegate Apartments.

“The Bible says, ‘Eye for an eye.’ There is only one man who did this. That’s that whole man’s life, 93 years. So why is there two that have to go away,” said Bridges in Franklin County Superior Court.

He continued to claim he walked away before the shooting in the complex’s parking lot off Road 68, though prosecutors believe he was still there.

“I’m not sure if anyone facing sentencing ever feels that a sentence is fair or just,” Runge told him.

Bridges pleaded guilty in early December to first-degree manslaughter and second-degree unlawful gun possession for helping DeShawn Anderson ambush Lorenzo “Richie” Fernandez Jr. as he sat in his car, according to prosecutors.

As part of the plea agreement, Bridges faced 10 years and five months to seven years and 11 months in prison.

“The defendant was in a position to stop this and he didn’t, and because he didn’t somebody is dead and a family is without a loved one,” said Franklin County Deputy Prosecutor Maureen Astley.

The murder was part of a series of escalating attacks starting in November 2014, when Anderson and another man allegedly fired 21 shots at a parked car with four men inside. Three were seriously injured.

The next night, a car with Anderson’s friend Anthony Guerrero, Anderson’s cousin and a third man inside was riddled with gunfire. Guerrero died hours later from his wounds. No one was charged in the shooting.

Two weeks later, Bridges’ wife, Mary A. Faucett, allegedly lured Fernandez to the Pasco apartment building with the promise of meeting up with him when Anderson ambushed the victim and killed him.

Fernandez was reportedly targeted because of his affiliation with the gang that shot Guerrero.

Anderson is serving a 93-year, 10-month prison sentence after a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder, four counts of first-degree assault and two counts of first-degree unlawful gun possession.

Brenda Elizondo Diaz, reading from a statement from Fernandez’s family, said they wanted justice for the slain man, who was a son, brother and father.

“You were there when his life was taken, and you chose to do nothing about it,” she said. “The only hope that we have for healing is justice for our family.”

Runge told Bridges she hopes he will learn to spend time with better people.

“You are young, and if you haven’t learned a lesson from this situation you need to understand that those you hang out with can really dictate and determine the course of your life,” she said.

Bridges’ wife remains charged with conspiracy, first-degree rendering criminal assistance and making false and misleading statements to a public servant. She is scheduled to go to trial on March 6.

This story was originally published January 3, 2017 at 11:12 AM with the headline "Pasco man ordered to serve 10 years for gang shooting."