PALATKA, Fla. – Ramon Gomez-Hernandez Jr. has been sentenced to life in prison for a 2023 shooting he committed at age 16 that killed one person and seriously wounded two others.
Circuit Judge Alicia Washington sentenced Gomez-Hernandez, now 19, on Sept. 16. Because he was a juvenile when the crime occurred, his life sentence will be eligible for review after 25 years, according to the State Attorney’s Office for Florida’s 7th Judicial Circuit.
A Putnam County jury convicted Gomez-Hernandez in April of first-degree murder with a firearm, two counts of attempted second-degree murder with a firearm, aggravated assault with a firearm and possession of a firearm by a juvenile delinquent.
The charges stemmed from a June 30, 2023, shooting on Kane Road in the Palatka area.
Prosecutors said Gomez-Hernandez drove to a planned fight and shot three people. One of the victims, identified in local reporting as 19-year-old Rubeli Perez-Lucas, died while a witness was rushing him to the hospital. The two other victims survived but suffered serious injuries with lasting effects.
Gun, ski mask and cellphone found in crashed vehicle
The vehicle Gomez-Hernandez drove to the shooting crashed and was abandoned after the gunfire.
Putnam County investigators obtained a warrant to search the vehicle and recovered a cellphone belonging to Gomez-Hernandez, a black ski mask and a handgun containing ammunition that matched cartridge casings recovered from the shooting scene, according to prosecutors.
Forensic evidence further tied Gomez-Hernandez to the vehicle and weapon. Florida Department of Law Enforcement laboratory testing found DNA recovered from the steering wheel, handgun and ski mask matched his DNA profile, the State Attorney’s Office said.
State Attorney R.J. Larizza described the shooting as a decision Gomez-Hernandez made when he was 16 and noted that the two other shooting victims survived.
The State Attorney’s Office has referred to Gomez-Hernandez as a “Young Guns” defendant. Prosecutors have described Young Guns as a violent group of young people connected to gun violence in the area.
The Putnam County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case. Chief of Homicide Jason Lewis and Assistant State Attorney Alexander Gilewicz prosecuted it.