Gunman gets life for deadly random shooting in San Diego

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A gunman who shot and killed a parking valet and wounded four other people in unprovoked attacks in San Diego in 2021 was sentenced Thursday to life in state prison.

Travis Sarreshteh, 34, was sentenced Thursday to 175 years plus four life terms, San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan announced.

In April 20321, Sarreshteh was going through a breakup with his girlfriend, “who wanted out of the relationship due to domestic violence incidents,” when he made a series of Instagram posts about “today being the last day for people to make amends,” according to a statement from the district attorney’s office.

Sarreshteh, wearing black clothing, a mask and carrying a self-assembled, unregistered “ghost gun,” went to his girlfriend’s home where the couple argued, the statement said.

Sarreshteh then went to the nearby Pendry Hotel in the Gaslamp Quarter, a busy nightlife district, where he shot Justice Boldin, 28, as the valet helped customers, authorities said.

When Boldin fell down, Sarreshteh shot him several more times, then walked up the street and opened fire on a group of New Jersey tourists he’d accused of laughing at him, injuring three of them and a San Diego man who was half a block away, the DA’s office said.

“He was just walking by them, kind of in a bad mood and it was kind of like a shoulder brush, and then right after that he was saying, ‘You guys having a good time?’ And that’s when he pulled out a gun and he started shooting … before they even had a chance to react or say a word,’ a witness, Alex Kelly, told KGTV-TV.

Sarreshteh was chased and tackled by two people who held him for police, who used a Taser to restrain him.

Last September, Sarreshteh was convicted of premeditated murder, premeditated attempted murder and assault with a firearm.

“This defendant had no regard for life when he ruthlessly killed an innocent young man who was simply performing his work, before going on the hunt for additional victims,” Stephan said. “I’m grateful for the heroic actions of bystanders, which likely averted even more loss of life.”