No contest plea likely means 29 years in prison for Los Banos shooting

LOS BANOS -- A 19-year-old man will be sentenced to 29 years in prison after making a plea agreement earlier this month with prosecutors for a July 2011 Los Banos shooting. Francisco Diaz pleaded no contest to attempted murder for shooting at a 22-year-old woman in the 300 block of Eighth Street. The woman narrowly avoided injury after the bullet struck a backpack she was carrying, according to Deputy District Attorney Travis Colby.

Diaz is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Ronald Hansen on Aug. 7.

Colby said the shooting was gang related. The woman and 21-year-old man had been walking to an abandoned residence. They had been living in a shed on the property when they spotted Diaz.

The pair tried to avoid Diaz, turning around and trying to make it back to the house. But Diaz made his way to the shed and then fired two shots at the pair as they fled -- one striking the woman's backpack, while the other hit the home, Colby said.

Diaz turned himself in to police a few weeks after the shooting. The attempted murder charge also included an enhancement for use of a firearm.

He'll be eligible for parole after serving 85 percent of his sentence.