Two men sentenced to a total of 76 years in prison for the death of a Denver teenager

Two men pleaded guilty and were sentenced to a total of 76 years in prison for shooting 16-year-old Khant Naing in Denver’s University District in October 2022.

Josiah Cruz, 19, pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery and was sentenced Friday by District Judge Bruce Jones to 18 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections. Charges of second-degree murder and aiding and abetting the crime were dropped as part of his guilty plea.

Six months earlier, 22-year-old Emilio Atticus Gomez had pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and aggravated robbery and was sentenced by Jones to 58 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections.

According to court documents, as part of the agreement, prosecutors dropped charges of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, attempted murder and assault against Gomez.

In a video interview played by prosecutors in court on Friday, Cruz said he used Gomez as the “muscle of the operation” in the robbery that killed Naing.

Naing’s family consists of Burmese immigrants who came to the United States from a refugee camp to give her son a better life, Naing’s mother said in a statement to the court. She said she no longer wanted to live and saw no point in being alive without her son.

The defense asked Jones to sentence Cruz to no more than 14 years, while prosecutors and Naing’s family pushed for 29 years, arguing that Cruz should receive half of Gomez’s 58-year sentence for his role in Naing’s death.

“My heart is truly filled with remorse for the life lost and the events that unfolded,” Cruz said through tears. “My decision to participate in this ruined my life. I never meant to endanger or harm your families. … All the apologies in the world cannot make up for what I did.”