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- A judge sentenced Quentin Raynal Respers to 40 years to life for a 2022 shooting death.
- A jury found Respers guilty of second-degree murder for shooting Abrina Gabriella Abraham.
- Prosecutor said security camera video showed Respers shooting the woman at a truck stop.
A Sacramento Superior Court judge sentenced a man to 40 years to life in prison for the shooting death of a woman who had met with him at a Natomas truck stop to discuss their previous romantic relationship.
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Judge Shelleyanne Chang on Friday sentenced Quentin Raynal Respers, 36, for the murder of Abrina Gabriella Abraham at the truck stop near Interstate 80 in unincorporated Natomas, the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office announced Monday in a news release.
In early May, a jury found Respers guilty of second-degree murder in Abraham’s death. Respers was also convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm, along with a firearm-use enhancement to the murder charge.
The shooting was reported about 3:45 a.m. June 24, 2022, at the 49er Travel Plaza in the 2800 block of El Centro Road, west of Interstate 5 and just north of Interstate 80.
Sacramento County sheriff’s officials have said that Respers was an employee at the truck stop and was on duty when the deadly shooting occurred.
Prosecutors said Abraham, 38, of Sacramento, met with Respers at the 49er Travel Plaza to discuss their previous romantic relationship. After a “verbal exchange” between the two, Respers pulled a handgun from his waistband and fired two shots at her, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
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Deputies responding to the shooting found Abraham wounded on the floor of the travel plaza’s general store. Abraham, who is also listed as Abrina Grabriella Wheeler in Sacramento County coroner records, was taken by ambulance to a hospital, where she died hours later.
Sheriff’s officials have said Respers was on probation at the time of the shooting for a 2017 conviction of possessing an unregistered firearm with ammunition and possessing a concealed firearm in a vehicle. His probation was set to expire in 2023.
Before deputies arrived, Respers left the truck stop. Prosecutors said deputies later located and arrested him. The shooting was captured on surveillance video, but investigators never recovered the gun used in the killing.
Prosecutors said surveillance footage showed Respers shooting Abraham at close range after she spilled Gatorade on him. The video then shows Respers walking out of the store to his vehicle and leaving the scene.
As of Monday, Respers remained in custody at the Sacramento County Main Jail awaiting transfer to California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation custody.
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