LOS ANGELES : Gang Member Gets Life in Killing of Counselor

A Los Angeles gang member convicted of the ambush murder of a Boyle Heights gang intervention counselor was sentenced this week to life in prison without parole.

Jose Gilbert Gonzales, 30, was convicted of first-degree murder last month for shooting Ana Lizarraga to death in the driveway of her Lancaster Avenue home on May 13, 1992.

Superior Court Judge Michael Tynan also sentenced Gonzales to 10 additional years in prison for a gun charge and probation violation. Jurors who found Gonzales guilty of the special circumstance allegation of lying in wait could have urged that he be put to death.

Two men in ski masks shot the 49-year-old counselor about a dozen times. She and her boyfriend had been packing her car for a trip to Utah to attend her mother’s funeral. The second assailant was never identified.