GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — A 2019 drug deal-turned-fatal shooting in a Gwinnett County hotel has finally been settled, the district attorney announced Monday.
A release from the office of Gwinnett District Attorney Patsy Austin-Gatson said Rodrigo Pinon-Lopez, known as Pelon, was sentenced to serve life without the possibility of parole plus another five consecutive years in confinement for being one of the masterminds that escalated a drug deal meet-up into an aggressive robbery. Pinon-Lopez, along with another person, is accused in a man's shooting death at an Intown Suites in Duluth.
Investigators said on August 29, 2019, they found the victim, Ivan Pastor-Vital dead. Gwinnett County Police Department described Pastor-Vital as "lying face up on the floor between two beds and the wall that separates the bedroom and bathroom." He had been shot in the back of the neck and through the arm.
According to the district attorney, Pinon-Lopez was conspiring with another man. The room was rented by another man to complete a drug deal, but Pinon-Lopez along with his accomplice decided on their own fruition to make it a robbery without consulting any other parties, a news release reads.
Pinon-Lopez said his accomplice is the one who fired the shots, according to the district attorney's office. Though he may not have pulled the trigger, Pinon-Lopez was accused of murder and aggravated assault in Pastor-Vital's death. He and his accomplice swiped the man's backpack, which was filled with meth officials said, and ran away from the hotel.
Police searched for him and his accomplice and arrested them after the initial shooting with help from witnesses.
It's unclear if Pinon-Lopez's accomplice will see a similar fate.
