A man who shot two Gallup women to death outside an eastern Arizona courthouse over a custody dispute will spend the next 50 years in prison.
The Navajo County Sheriff's Office says 49-year-old Salomon Diaz, of Snowflake, was sentenced late last week to two consecutive 25-year terms.
According to Navajo County Superior Court records, Diaz pleaded guilty in August to two counts of second-degree murder and one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Diaz initially faced first-degree murder charges.
Authorities say Diaz fatally shot 25-year-old Ashley Utley, the mother of his grandchildren, and her mother, 45-year-old Sherry Quintero-Davenport, in June 2016 outside the Navajo County Superior Court in Holbrook. Another woman was injured but survived.
The shooting happened after Utley was awarded temporary custody of her two children.