Felipe Vazquez was a seventeen year old from Nebraska who would shoot and kill a police officer. According to court documents a number of police officers were in the process of serving a warrant on Felipe Vazquez for assault when the teen killer began firing. One of the shots would strike Lincoln police investigator Mario Herrera who would later die at the hospital of his injuries. Felipe Vazquez would be arrested and would later be convicted at trial and be sentenced to a minimum of 75 years in prison
Felipe Vazquez 2022 Information
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A Lincoln teenager who was found guilty of killing a police officer was sentenced to at least 75 years to life in prison Wednesday.
On March 21, Felipe Vazquez, 19, was found guilty of all charges related to the death of Lincoln police investigator Mario Herrera.
Vazquez was accused of murder in the first degree for killing Herrera as officers descended on his home in August of 2020 to serve a warrant.
That warrant was issued on Vazquez for second-degree assault in connection to the March stabbing death of 36-year-old Edward Varejcka. Vazquez was 17 at the time. Investigators said Vazquez shot Herrera in the torso after he and another man in the home, Orion Ross, jumped out a window. Ross was arrested shortly after the shooting. Vazquez was found outside another home later, Lincoln police said. Ross testified during Vazquez’s trial.
Herrera survived at Nebraska Medicine for two weeks before dying. He was a 23-year veteran of the force.
Jurors also found Vazquez guilty of all other counts including two charges of use of a firearm to commit a felony, attempted assault on an officer, possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, possession of a stolen fire arm and escape.
The judge ruled that Vazquez would not get a fair trial in Lincoln due to “ongoing, pervasive media coverage” of the case. It was moved to Columbus.
