Julie Marie Lopez pleaded to aggravated robbery in a case connected to the fatal shooting of 20-year-old Isaiah Guevara.
SAN ANTONIO — A 20-year-old woman initially charged with murder in the 2024 shooting death of Isaiah Guevara was sentenced Thursday to 15 years in prison after accepting a plea agreement on a reduced aggravated robbery charge.
Under the agreement, the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office waived the murder charge against Julie Marie Lopez. Judge Christine Del Prado imposed the agreed sentence in the 227th Criminal District Court on July 9. Lopez received credit for 499 days she had already spent in custody.
The case arose from a shooting reported shortly after 4 a.m. on Oct. 26, 2024, at the Villas of Oak Creste apartments in the 5300 block of Fredericksburg Road. A caller told San Antonio police that gunfire from a nearby apartment had sent several rounds through the caller’s walls. The caller was not injured.
Officers entered the neighboring apartment and found Guevara with an apparent gunshot wound, police said. He was 20. Investigators later reviewed messages and surveillance video as they worked to determine who had been with Guevara before the shooting.
According to an arrest affidavit, Instagram messages showed that Guevara and Lopez had arranged to meet that night. Surveillance footage from a nearby QuikTrip also showed the two inside the store before they returned to the apartment complex with another person, investigators said.
Police alleged that Lopez sent a voice message at 3:42 a.m. indicating that members of the group were hiding. An anonymous tip received in January 2025 led investigators to question her further. Lopez acknowledged being at Guevara’s apartment but declined to identify two other people she had referenced, according to the affidavit.
A separate witness later told police that Lopez participated in a plan to rob Guevara and that one of her friends shot him inside the apartment, the affidavit states. The plea resolved the charge against Lopez without a trial on the original murder allegation.
Police arrested Felix Brandon Garcia, 24, in March 2026 in connection with Guevara’s death. Court records showed that prosecutors dismissed Garcia’s murder case June 3 because of insufficient evidence. The dismissal did not amount to a finding that another person was responsible for the shooting.
After Lopez was sentenced, Guevara’s mother, Denise Villarreal, and his aunt, Christina Rodriguez, criticized the reduction of the charge and said they hoped investigators would identify anyone else involved. The available reports did not identify any pending charges against additional suspects.
Lopez will serve the remainder of her 15-year sentence after receiving credit for time already spent in jail. No further court proceedings in her case were announced.
Author note: Last updated July 11, 2026.