A judge sentenced a city man to 10 and a half to 21 years in state prison after he pleaded guilty earlier this year of taking part in the botched robbery of a stolen handgun that resulted in one of his co-conspirators being shot to death and a teenager being seriously injured.

Judge Dennis Reinaker handed down the sentence to Luis Javier Rivera, of the 500 block of East King Street, on April 7. Rivera had pleaded guilty in January to committing aggravated assault, conspiracy to commit aggravated assault, robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery and criminal use of a communication facility.

Rivera, 24, told police that he and co-conspirators Jorge Luis Santiago and James Diggs had always planned to rob the 17-year-old victim of the handgun the night of Dec. 9, 2022. Earlier in the day the three men had arranged a trade with the juvenile for the weapon; with Rivera telling police their plan was to physically take the firearm by force rather than making the exchange.

That plan went awry when the juvenile realized the three were planning on strong-arming him for the gun and a physical struggle began. Diggs, 30, shot the juvenile with a separate firearm that he had brought. The juvenile returned fire with the stolen weapon and shot Diggs five times.

Police arrived at the scene in the 400 block of Ruby Street to find Diggs dead and the juvenile having suffered gunshot wounds to both of his legs.

In an interview with police Rivera explained how the three men had planned out the interaction, going as far as to bring a fake handgun to the exchange in an attempt to trick the juvenile and to give Diggs enough time to grab the stolen weapon while he and Santiago scared him into relinquishing the gun.

But the juvenile quickly caught on to Rivera and the others’ plan and was attacked by the three, being pistol-whipped in the head and shot in the legs as they attempted to take the gun from him by force. The teenager’s act of returning fire was determined to be a justifiable act of self-defense.

Nearby home security cameras captured audio of the shooting as it occurred around 11:30 p.m.

Investigators later found the stolen weapon inside the juvenile’s home. A subsequent investigation revealed that the teenager had stolen the handgun earlier in the day and that the purpose of the attempted trade was to eliminate the connection between him and the weapon’s lawful owner.

Though he wasn’t charged with causing Diggs’ death, the teenager was charged in the juvenile system with stealing the weapon.

Santiago, 27, is still pending prosecution on charges of aggravated assault, criminal conspiracy to commit aggravated assault, robbery and criminal conspiracy to commit robbery. He is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

First Deputy Assistant District Attorney Cody Wade prosecuted the case.

Lancaster City Bureau of Police Det. Timothy Sinnott filed the charges.