Man sentenced to 32 years for attempted murder in northeast Fort Collins shooting

A man convicted of attempted murder for shooting a driver on East Mulberry Street last year was sentenced to more than 30 years in prison.

Jorge Arreola, 35, was sentenced to 32 years in prison Tuesday after a jury found him guilty of attempted second-degree murder, a Class 3 felony, in March. Arreola shot a man in the neck while driving in the early morning hours of Feb. 21, 2023, in the area of East Mulberry Street and Airpark Drive.

The man sustained serious injuries, but survived the shooting.

Deputy District Attorney Erin Butler asked Judge Daniel McDonald to give Arreola the maximum sentence, but said if she could request he go to prison for longer, she would.

"Our community deserves to be safe from this man for as long as the court can allow," Butler said.

The victim testified during trial that he was driving to work around 5 a.m. when Arreola drove up beside him and drifted into his lane, at one point forcing him off the road. Once their vehicles were side-by-side, Arreola rolled his window down and fired at the victim's car, shattering his window. The bullet went straight through the back of the victim's neck.

Butler, McDonald and Arreola's defense attorney, Nathan Hansen, all agreed Tuesday it was a miracle the victim survived.

The victim did not attend Tuesday's sentencing hearing out of fear of retaliation, Butler told the judge.

Butler said, this "brutal" crime was an act of "random and unprovoked violence that has no place in our community."

There was no evidence presented as to what Arreola's motive may have been in the shooting — there was no road rage incident prior to the shooting and the victim and Arreola didn't know each other — but during the trial and in Tuesday's sentencing hearing, prosecutors said Arreola may have shot the victim randomly because he was angry after fighting with his spouse.

This is Arreola's eighth criminal conviction and fifth conviction involving a violent crime, Butler said.

Hansen argued his client has grown since the shooting and wants to improve his life. Hansen asked for a shorter sentence of 15-20 years, citing other serious cases in Larimer County where people have been sentenced to similar ranges or shorter.

In a statement during the sentencing hearing, Arreola said he was addicted to drugs and making poor choices at the time of the shooting, however he continued to deny he was the one who pulled the trigger. In a previous statement to law enforcement, he claimed he was just driving the truck and a passenger was the shooter, but evidence presented at trial showing the trajectory of the bullet showed otherwise.

Arreola said his 15 months in jail since his arrest allowed him to get sober, reflect on his actions and seek behavioral health support from SummitStone Health Partners.

McDonald agreed with Butler that "there is no evidence that has been presented that warrants reducing this sentence by even a single hour."

"The evidence in this case is overwhelming," McDonald said. "It is really one of the most brazen acts I've seen."

Hansen and Butler said Arreola was deported to Mexico in 2009 or 2010, and Hansen said Arreola would likely be deported again due to his conviction in this case.

In a statement to the court, Arreola said after finishing his prison sentence he would like to go back to Mexico and help build houses for those in need.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Man sentenced to 30 years in prison for Fort Collins attempted murder