Man gets 4 years in citizen's-arrest death

200 block of Lewis Road, San Jose, CA 200 block of Lewis Road, San Jose, CA Photo: Google Maps Photo: Google Maps Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Man gets 4 years in citizen's-arrest death 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

A San Jose maintenance worker who shot and killed a man while trying to make a citizen's arrest for burglary at an apartment building will receive a four-year jail sentence after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter, authorities said Wednesday.

Luis Ricardo Hernandez, 26, had initially been charged with murder in the slaying of 36-year-old Christopher Soriano at the apartments on the 200 block of Lewis Road where Hernandez works.

Prosecutors agreed to the reduced charge because "the evidence shows the defendant never had the intent to kill the victim," said Matt Braker, a Santa Clara County deputy district attorney. "The evidence shows that Mr. Soriano died because of the defendant's extremely reckless and criminally negligent behavior."

The prosecutor said Hernandez "has accepted responsibility for his actions" and will be sentenced June 17 to four years in county jail.

The incident began when Hernandez got a call Dec. 31 from his boss, who had spotted Soriano driving a truck into the apartment building's garage. The supervisor believed Soriano had burglarized his and other apartments in the past, police said.

The supervisor didn't think police had responded promptly to the burglaries and had no confidence officers would show up this time, so he told Hernandez to help him make a citizen's arrest, police said.

Hernandez armed himself with a gun, investigators said. When he and his boss tried to hold Soriano, however, the suspected burglar broke free and Hernandez shot him, police said.

An autopsy indicated that Soriano was shot from less than a foot away and was either lying on the ground or crouching when he was hit, according to the medical examiner's office.

Surveillance footage from the garage shows Hernandez fighting with the suspect while holding a gun, according to police.