MAN GETS 15 YEARS IN PRISON FOR JUNE SHOOTING OF TWO WOMEN IN GASLAMP

A man who opened fire in the Gaslamp Quarter last summer and shot two bystanders was sentenced Tuesday to 15 years and six months in state prison.

Johnza Watson, 26, opened fire on another man during a fight June 24. Authorities said he missed the intended target, but struck two women standing near Fifth Avenue and F Street.

One of the women was shot in her chest; the other was shot in a hand. The victims were from the East Coast and visiting San Diego for a work-related conference, according to a statement posted online by their employer shortly after the shooting.

Watson was arrested about a week later in connection with the assault and robbery of a man, also in the Gaslamp Quarter. That victim’s wallet, necklace and cellphone were stolen, according to Deputy District Attorney Ted Fiorito.

After Watson’s arrest, surveillance footage helped police identify him as the suspect in the June 24 shootings, the prosecutor said.

Watson pleaded guilty last year to attempted voluntary manslaughter, assault with a semi-automatic firearm, and robbery charges.

At Watson’s sentencing hearing, San Diego Superior Court Judge Theodore Weathers said that while Watson was punched first during the initial altercation, “You had no business firing a gun in a crowded area such as the Gaslamp.”

Before imposing the agreed-upon prison term, the judge heard statements from the two women who were shot.

Andrew Sheer, brother of shooting victim Lane Sheer read a statement his sister wrote describing her long recovery process.

The bullet hit Sheer’s spleen, liver, kidney and lung, fractured several bones and bruised her spinal cord, she wrote.

“The doctors cannot give me a concrete answer on when I’ll be fully healed or if that will happen,” Lane Sheer wrote.

The other woman, Toni Yrlas, said she continues to feel anxiety in crowded public places, as well as pain, discomfort and a lack of full mobility in her hand.