BUFFALO, NY — Anchor Bar shooter Jorge Suarez will spend 25 years to life in prison for the murder of Freddie Dizon inside the Main Street restaurant in May 2016.
Suarez, 27, received the maximum sentenced from Erie County Court Judge Thomas Franczyk on Thursday.
He was convicted of second-degree murder and weapons possession on Dec. 8 in the slaying of Dizon, a 33-year-old Anchor Bar cook.
"This was nothing short of an execution that was meant to silence Freddie Dizon once and for all," said prosecutor Colleen Curtin Gable, while addressing the court prior to sentencing.
During Suarez's trial earlier this month, it was revealed that prior to the shooting, Dizon had taken to social media, to publicly accuse Suarez of molesting one of Dizon's children.
While noting the claims were never substantiated, despite an investigation by the Erie County Department of Social Services, Judge Franczyk said such allegations provided Suarez a motive for revenge.
"That's about the worst thing that you can say about somebody, especially if it wasn't true, Franczyk told Suarez. "And while you professed to the police in your interview that it was really no big deal, and you were treating it like water off a duck's rear end, it really did bother you...that was obvious," Franczyk said.
"My son did not deserve what he did to him...he broke my family into pieces," said Hermenia Gonzales, the mother of Freddie Dizon.
Ganzalez reminded WGRZ-TV outside the courtroom that she not only lost a son, but that her son's three children lost their father as well.
"All they do is talk about daddy and it's hard," said Gonzalez. "I still think he's gonna walk through the door even when I know he's not going to. I'm just so happy I got my justice today. It's the best Christmas present I could have.
Though Suarez declined to say anything when given the chance to do so in court, his attorney Mark Worrell says his client maintains his innocence and that an appeal is already in the works.
Gregory Ramos, 25, Suarez's suspected getaway driver, was sentenced in April to four years in prison for second-degree strangulation in an unrelated crime.