A Milwaukee man who fatally shot a young mother as she was on her way to her mother’s Christmas Eve party will spend the next 32 years in prison.
Omarion Danielson pleaded guilty in May to reckless homicide in the shooting death last year of Sildian Torres-Betancourt, 27. She was on her way to the party with her partner and 7-year-old son when gunfire erupted on the 1300 block of South 29th Street and a bullet went through her car door and struck her upper body.
Danielson, who turns 19 Friday, held his head low as Judge Jeffrey A. Wagner recounted Danielson’s criminal history and handed down the sentence Tuesday.
Friends and members of Torres-Betancourt’s family were in court for the hearing. Many of them wore T-shirts and hoodies with Torres-Betancourt’s photo encircled by angel wings.
Wagner also ordered Danielson eight years of supervision after he completes his time in prison.
“I don’t think (the sentence is) enough,” longtime friend Nicole Mojica, 28, told the Journal Sentinel outside the courtroom. “He can still talk to his family. We have to go to the cemetery.”
Although it may have initially seemed like Torres-Betancourt was the victim of a stray bullet, Danielson told police he intentionally shot at her vehicle, according to the criminal complaint, but for reasons that aren’t clear.
In court, Danielson said he was remorseful over Torres-Betancourt’s death and that he opened fire after encountering a man in a corner store who he thought looked like a man who robbed him earlier.
“She has a child, she has siblings, she has friends. They’re never going to see her again because of what you did,” Wagner told Danielson. “You’ve left a legacy of sadness behind.”