Man sentenced to 30 years in 2020 shooting death at Halloween party

Rosa Parsons wept as she sat in the courtroom gallery surrounded by dozens of her family who were also in tears as they watched the man who killed her son plead guilty to murder.

Her words describing the pain she bears from the loss of her son were read aloud in court before her son's killer, 31-year-old Joshua Rosales.

"Paul Anthony Luna was my son. you ripped a piece of my heart from me when you chose to end my son's life. What gave you the right to do that?" she wrote.

Rosales, who has been held at the Lubbock County Detention Center since January 2021, was sentenced to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty in the 364th District Court to a count of murder in the Oct. 31, 2020 slaying of 39-year-old Paul Anthony Luna.

Rosales also faced a continuing violence against family charge, but the case was dismissed as part of his plea agreement with the Lubbock County District Attorney's Office.

The murder charge stems from a Lubbock Metropolitan Special Crimes Unit investigation that began when Lubbock County Sheriff's deputies responded to 12104 U.S. 87 in connection with a shooting and found Luna's body. He suffered multiple gunshot wounds, according to court documents.

Witnesses told investigators that Rosales and another man were at the party and got into an argument with Luna.

Luna and Rosales' friend, who was not charged in connection with the homicide, began fighting. As the two struggled against each other on the floor, witnesses saw Rosales walk up to the fray and shoot Luna.

Rosales left the building but returned moments later and shot Luna several more times as he lay on the floor as people were giving him first aid.

Rosales then left the building again and drove away.

He was arrested in January 2021 in San Antonio and was taken to the Lubbock County Detention Center.

Prosecutor Mandi Say said the plea offer was a result of multiple meetings with Luna's family, who agreed that the plea deal would resolve the case.

Say said the sentence provides justice for what she describe was Luna's execution at Rosales' hands.

"There's nothing other than that was an execution that night," she said.

Say said while the evidence gathered by investigators firmly identified Rosales as the killer, the motive for the shooting remains a mystery.

"We always as humans want to know the motive but there is no explanation for what happened that day," she said.

Parsons described her son, who worked in the oil industry, as a devoted father. He had four sons and two daughters.

"He had been working out in the oilfields since he was 19," she said. "He worked long hours to make enough money to support his kids. He made sure that his kids had everything they needed and wanted. When he wasn't working he was spending time with his kids. The second you made the choice to pull the trigger, you stole all that from them."

Hours before the shooting, Parsons said her son had taken his younger children trick or treating.

"Not once did it enter their little hearts that that was the last time they would ever see their daddy alive again."

Weeks after her son died, his grandson was born.

"Paul never got the chance to meet his first grandson and [his grandson]never got to meet his grandpa," she said. "You stole that from both of them. [Luna's grandson] will never know how much love his grandpa had for him even before he was born."

She told Rosales that her family work to make sure that he served every bit of his prison sentence.

"Your destiny is now to spend many years in a little cage where someone will be there to tell you what to do every second of every day," she said. "Because of you, my family, all of Paul's friends and I have to wake up in a world without Paul. Because of a choice you made, our lives are changed forever."

Luna's sister, Amy Parrales, whose victim impact statement was also read aloud in court, said her brother was also a loyal and generous friend.

"You affected so many more lives than you will ever know," she told Rosales. "(Luna's) children will never celebrate graduations, weddings, or birthdays with their father. I am grateful that you are pulled away from society, away from hurting others. We stand here today to hear the judgement you will endure here on earth. But then you will stand before God and you will have your true judgement. "

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Man pleads guilty to 2020 shooting at Halloween party, gets 30 years