CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — A man accused of shooting and killing a partygoer in Clayton County in 2019 will spend the next decade behind bars.
Court records show Jorge Beltran was sentenced Monday. He was found guilty of picking a fight at a quinceañera and fatally shooting 27-year-old Juan Perez Salazar on Nov. 17, 2019, according to a news release from the Clayton County District Attorney's Office.
Prosecutors said Beltran, who was 17 years old at the time, started a verbal fight with Perez Salazar. Evidence showed that Perez Salazar tried to keep from escalating the argument at the birthday party and was actually trying to break up a fight between Beltran and another person. Beltran continued the argument by pointing a gun at Perez Salazar's face, which he swatted away, investigators said. Beltran then punched Perez Salazar in the face and the two got into a fist fight.
As attendees of the quinceañera tried to break up the fight, Beltran pointed his gun again at Perez Salazar's face. Perez Salazar pushed it away a second time. For a third time, Beltran pointed his gun and aimed lower, shooting Perez Salazar in the lower chest area at close range. He died from his injury.
Surveillance video from the Oasis Event Center captured the entire incident, prosecutors said, making it possible to identify Beltran despite him running from the scene.
Beltran claimed he shot in self-defense. However, the jury returned a guilty verdict on July 14, according to the district attorney's office. Beltran was convicted of malice murder, felony murder and aggravated assault, records show. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison and eight on probation.
