A Northeast Arkansas man pleaded guilty Monday to holding his ex-wife at gunpoint outside a Walmart and fatally shooting a man who tried to intervene, Second Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney Scott Ellington announced.
Gabriel Urrabazo, 23, of Trumann entered the guilty plea in Poinsett County Circuit Court and Judge Barbara Halsey sentenced him to 30 years in prison for first-degree murder. She also sentenced him to 20 years for the kidnapping of his ex-wife, Faith Morgan. The terms will run concurrently, Ellington said in a news release.
Officials said Urrabazo went to the Trumann Walmart on April 23, 2018, and held his ex-wife at gunpoint. Richard Highfill, 36, who knew Morgan, tried to disarm Urrabazo while police began negotiating with Urrabazo, but was fatally shot.
A standoff would ensue for several minutes before Urrabazo released his ex-wife and surrendered.
“This is the right thing to do,” Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Tom Young said of the plea. “It was better than putting the victim’s family and his pre-teen daughter, who witnessed her father being killed, through the stress of going to trial.”