A Texas man has been sentenced to at least 100 years in prison for his role in a two-state shooting spree on Thanksgiving Day in 2020, which left one person dead and several others injured across Nevada and Arizona.
The rampage began early on Nov. 26, 2020, when Christopher McDonnell, 32, and two accomplices began shooting at motorists from their moving car outside Las Vegas. Prosecutors described the attack as a “mobile mass shooting.” About 10 hours after the shooting spree started, it ended with a crash on a highway near Bouse, Arizona, following a shootout with police.
On Friday, McDonnell, from Tyler, Texas, heard in court how victims and their families shared the impact the shooting spree had on their lives. Kevin Mendiola, whose 22-year-old son, Kevin Mendiola Jr., was killed during the rampage at a 7-Eleven in Henderson, Nevada, just outside Las Vegas, expressed his grief: “I struggle every day.”
In October, McDonnell pleaded guilty but mentally ill to nearly two dozen felony charges, including first-degree murder and multiple counts of shooting at occupied vehicles. The charges were all filed in Nevada; he faces no charges in Arizona.
During the hearing, McDonnell, his face tattooed to resemble a skull, read a brief statement: “I take full responsibility for my own wrongdoings, and I appreciate the courts for administering justice.” McDonnell’s attorney declined to comment on Sunday.
In 2021, McDonnell was found mentally incompetent to stand trial. He was re-evaluated the following year and deemed competent, allowing the case to resume.
At the hearing, a Clark County district attorney remarked, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a crime that’s terrorized our community in the way that this crime has terrorized our community,” as reported by KLAS-TV.
McDonnell’s brother, Shawn McDonnell, and his wife at the time, Kayleigh Lewis, were also involved in the spree and have been charged. Authorities say Lewis, who filed for divorce from Shawn McDonnell last year, was the driver of the vehicle. Their cases are still pending, and their attorneys did not comment.
By the end of the rampage, the three suspects had fled nearly a dozen crime scenes, shooting at drivers from Nevada to Arizona. Many of the bullets hit vehicles but not the people inside.
The deadliest attack occurred at the 7-Eleven in Henderson, where Kevin Mendiola Jr. was killed, and four others were wounded, including his girlfriend, Jayde Libby. At the sentencing, Libby recalled the moment: “He did the most heroic thing one could ever do — he saved me, and I’ll never know why.”