GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (Michigan News Source) — An illegal alien who used a false name, had a criminal history in West Michigan and had previously been deported from the United States will spend decades behind bars.

In August, 43-year-old Gilberto Hernandez-Mendez pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a February 2025 shooting in Alpine Township that wounded his girlfriend and her sister and killed their mother. He also pleaded no contest to additional charges.

MORE NEWS: Michigan Colleges Earn a ‘D’ for Free Speech as Students Admit to Self-Censoring

Kent County Circuit Court Judge Joseph Rossi sentenced Hernandez-Mendez to 28 to 50 years for second-degree murder, to be served consecutively to a two-year felony-firearm sentence.

Hernandez-Mendez also received sentences of 25 to 40 years for three counts of assault with intent to murder, two years for another felony-firearm count, and 10 to 15 years for third-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Those additional sentences will run concurrently with his murder sentence.

Kent County sheriff’s deputies found three women with gunshot wounds at the scene. Their mother, Norma Ramirez-Martinez, 56, died at the scene. The sisters, ages 30 and 36, were hospitalized with serious injuries.

A man and a toddler were also in the home during the shooting but were unharmed.