By City News Service

A Corona man who shot a 21-year-old woman in the back in the midst of a parking dispute with her boyfriend was sentenced Friday to 40 years to life in prison. Ruben Banuelos, 22, was convicted in April of second-degree murder and shooting at an occupied dwelling, with sentence-enhancing gun and great bodily injury allegations, for the June 6, 2013, slaying of Nanette Priscilla Serrano.

Riverside County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Prevost heard from relatives of the defendant and the victim during a hearing at the Banning Courthouse, after which he imposed the sentence required by law. According to the District Attorney's Office, Banuelos and Serrano's boyfriend, Roberto Ramirez, got into an argument on the day of the attack after Banuelos and a friend parked in front of Ramirez's residence at 711 Joy St. and began drinking beer, creating a disturbance.

Ramirez confronted Banuelos, telling him to park somewhere else. After the two men exchanged words, Banuelos drove away, and Ramirez parked his own vehicle in front of the house as Serrano waited for him on the sidewalk. Deputy District Attorney Chris Cook said Banuelos returned alone in his Honda Civic moments later, carrying a semi-automatic .22-caliber Mossberg rifle. He stopped in front of the house, aimed his rifle out the driver's-side window and opened fire, the prosecutor said.

Ramirez fled to the rear of his property to retrieve a 9mm handgun that he'd hidden there, and Serrano attempted to run inside the house for cover but was hit by one of the six to eight shots that Corona police investigators said the defendant fired.

According to Cook, Ramirez grabbed his pistol and returned to the front of the house, firing multiple shots at Banuelos, who stomped his accelerator, crashing into two parked cars before finally racing away from the location.

Ramirez and his brother took Serrano to Corona Regional Medical Center, where she died a short time later. After the shooting, Banuelos abandoned his damaged Honda in the 500 block of Penrose Drive and borrowed his father's Ford Explorer, driving onto the Riverside (91) Freeway, where he rear-ended a car exiting onto McKinley Street.