A man found guilty of second-degree murder for fatally shooting a Stockton fire captain in 2022 was sentenced this week to 15 years to life in prison.
Robert Somerville, who was 68 at the time of the shooting, received his sentence Tuesday at a Stockton courthouse.
Somerville was found guilty on Feb. 14, 2023, by a jury of the shooting death of 47-year-old Stockton Fire Capt. Vidal “Max” Fortuna.
The members of the jury said they also found Somerville guilty of all gun allegations related to the case.
On Jan. 31, 2022, Fortuna and other firefighters had responded at 4:45 a.m. to reports of a dumpster fire at 142 S. Aurora St.
When fire crews noticed that the blaze was beginning to impinge on a nearby business, they attempted to enter the building to extinguish the fire, and suddenly gunshots were heard, Stockton City Manager Harry Black said during a press conference.
Fortuna, a 21-year veteran of the Fire Department, had been struck by gunfire and was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Tre Somerville, the son of the suspect, had said to media following the shooting that because their family business had encountered several break-ins, his father believed another was occurring and was trying to defend himself.
“He was protecting his life,” Tre Somerville said. “It was two people doing the same thing.”
“They got a fireman trying to protect his life and they got my dad trying to protect his life,” Tre Somerville said.
During the trial, prosecutor Elton Grau said in his closing argument that Somerville fired a weapon several times into a dock door in the back of his warehouse knowing that a person was there.
However, during a police interrogation, Somerville had said he shot his gun to scare possible intruders away, not to kill anyone.
The San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office said more information about Somerville’s sentencing was not immediately available.
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