Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Hope Hipton sentenced a 20-year-old man to life, suspending all but 25 years, on Oct. 6 after the defendant pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted murder and one count of felony firearm use.
Sobs were heard from defendant Danny Gonzalez’s mother as Judge Tipton read his sentence to the court. She was 17 years old when she had Gonzalez, according to defense attorney Natalie A. Finegar.
Several rows in front of Gonzalez’s mother sat the case’s two victims, a man and woman who were respectively 40 and 34 when the shooting occurred last November. Several other courtroom attendees surrounded the victims, including a victim’s advocacy agent and a friend of the female victim who was also present at the shooting. The friend’s daughter and nephew, who were both two years old when they witnessed the shooting, did not attend the hearing.
The female victim gave a tearful impact statement prior to sentencing, admitting she struggled with a significant amount of fear when deciding to appear before her shooter in court. Loud noises and sirens began to startle her after the shooting, she said, giving her “a hard time going into stores and other places.”
She noted both she and her daughter are receiving counseling for anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following the incident, and that she is also taking medication for nightmares.
“She watched me die in front of her,” she told the court through tears. “I died five times on the way to the hospital.”
Officers responding to the Nov. 18, 2024 crime scene on the 4000 block of Orchard Avenue recovered a large amount of blood and five .45-caliber shell casings. The gunfire reportedly also struck the house, which had children inside at the time. Gonzalez allegedly fled the scene after hearing there were children in the area.
The female victim, who was listed in critical condition following law enforcement’s initial response, also told the court she now lacks feeling in approximately 80 percent of one of her legs, despite having undergone almost 20 surgeries in the shooting’s aftermath. She will likely need more surgeries, she said.
While hospitalized, her wounds also grew infected, leading to further complications. One of the bullets struck her pelvis, she told the court, and her knee was “also pretty messed up” following the incident.
Judge Tipton commended her bravery in addressing the court.
“You should know how courageous that is,” Judge Tipton said.
The male victim declined to give a statement of his own, but was present at the hearing and sat with the female victim throughout proceedings.
Though Gonzalez declined to give his own statement, Finegar gave the court a brief glimpse into his tumultuous childhood, which saw his alcoholic and marjiuana-dependent father deported back to Honduras when Gonzalez was about 3 years old. Prior to his deportation, Gonzalez and his older sister, whom his mother birthed at age 15, often saw his father beat his mother.
As a teenager and young adult, Finegar noted, Gonzalez struggled with alcoholism and marijuana dependency much like his father. After he dropped out of school in ninth grade, a cousin took him into his own home in Washington D.C.
Finegar also expressed her belief that a diagnosis could aid Gonzalez’s case, noting he often described struggling with symptoms that match a PTSD diagnosis. Gonzalez is currently taking medication for anxiety, and was diagnosed with depression while behind bars.
Finegar also listed several promising aspects about her client, including his likelihood to apply himself toward a GED or trade certificate and his “extremely polite and docile” demeanor during their interviews together.
For his two attempted murder charges, Gonzalez will serve two concurrent sentences of life, suspending all but 25 years, to be followed by five years of supervised probation. For the firearm charge, Gonzalez will serve five concurrent years without parole. He will be required to register to the Maryland Gun Offender Registry upon release and stay away from both victims.
Judge Tipton noted Gonzalez will be able to apply for a modification of his sentence if he incurs no infractions while serving time. Per Finegar’s recommendation, she recommended Gonzalez to the Patuxent Youth Program, a program aimed at rehabilitating young adult criminal offenders.
Gonzalez has ten days to submit an appeal. At the time, no further hearings are scheduled in this case.
