Peninsula Man Pleads Guilty In 2018 Homicide

HALF MOON BAY, CA — A 26-year-old man has pleaded no contest to second-degree murder charges for the fatal shooting of a woman in Half Moon Bay in 2018, San Mateo County prosecutors said Friday.

Tristan Cecil, a Half Moon Bay resident, was charged in the death of 18-year-old Kimberly Quiroz, who Cecil had been dating for about a month at the time of the shooting on Feb. 22, 2018.

The county District Attorney's Office said Cecil started going through Quiroz's cellphone while she slept. When she woke up, an argument ensued and Cecil shot her once in the forehead. He then called his mother and she called 911, and Cecil told responding deputies that Quiroz had shot herself in the head.

Quiroz was taken to a hospital and died of her injuries on March 3, 2018, and investigators eventually determined that Cecil had shot her, prosecutors said. He was arrested in May 2019 on suspicion of the killing.

On Thursday, Cecil decided to take an offer from the District Attorney's Office to accept the second-degree murder plea in exchange for a sentence of 15 years to life in prison. He is expected to return to court on May 24 for sentencing.

Cecil's defense attorney was not immediately available Friday to comment on the plea.

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