31-year-old Armon Rejai of Lincoln was sentenced to life in prison on Tuesday for shooting his neighbor, 18-year-old Julian Martinez, following an argument in January 2023 over an unleased dog in their yard.
KLIN Media partner 10/11 Now reports Rejai took a plea deal to reduce the initial charges to second-degree murder, down from first-degree. The related charges of using a firearm to commit a felony and two counts of assault were dropped.
Arrest affidavits revealed that the confrontation began when Rejai was arguing with his neighbors over an unleashed dog in their yard near 19th and Euclid Avenue on January 21, 2023. Rejai claimed to have heard those neighbors shouting obscenities at him after he had returned home, to which he responded by pepper spraying the group.
Martinez, among the group of neighbors, was shot once in the upper torso when he went to Rejai’s door to confront him. Martinez later died at the hospital.
During the sentencing hearing, Rejai apologized to Martinez’s family and claimed he believed he was acting in self defense. However, he did not receive the leniency he requested.
“It was you that for some reason decided to open the door and shoot and kill this unarmed 18-year-old young man,” Judge Susan Strong said. “Everyone does have a right to self defense, and you have the constitutional right to own and carry firearms. But this was not a case of self defense.”