Man sentenced to 18 years in fatal shooting over parking

BRIDGEPORT — A city man was sentenced Thursday to 18 years in prison for fatally shooting another man following a dispute over a parking space.

“I'm sorry to the (victim's) family. Me and him never had any problems and we both made mistakes,” Waldo “Abel”

Gonzalez, told Superior Court Judge Tracy Lee Dayton as family of the victim, Ronald Simmons, sat crying in the back of the courtroom. “I take full responsibility for my actions,” the 50year-old Gonzalez added.

Dayton called it a sad case.

“All over a parking space,” she said.

She added that there were “issues” in the case, including the fact that there was more than one gun at the scene.

She then sentenced Gonzalez, who previously pleaded guilty to firstdegree manslaughter with a firearm and possession of a pistol without a permit to 40 years, suspended after he serves 18 years in prison and followed by five years of probation.

“The facts of this case went from unfortunate to horrific,” State's Attorney Joseph Corradino told the judge. “No sentence can undo the harm that this defendant did.”

According to the arrest warrant affidavit, on July 2, 2017, the 44-year-old Simmons was found lying on Fremont Street shortly after 2 a.m. bleeding from a gunshot wound in his torso.

Police said witnesses told them there had been a week-long dispute going on between two women in a State Street apartment building that began over a parking space.

In the early morning of July 2, police said, the women got into a confrontation in the building's parking lot. Police said Simmons interceded in the confrontation on behalf of his family members when Gonzalez came to the defense of his former wife, who was on the other side of the dispute.

Witnesses said Gonzalez pulled out a handgun from his ankle area and yelled, “You want to play?” and shot Simmons, police said.

Simmons then staggered to Fremont Street, where he collapsed, police said.