Man sentenced to life for deadly shooting of Hillsboro bar manager

HILLSBORO, Ore. (KPTV) - A man who shot and killed a manager of Hillsboro bar in 2023 has been sentenced to life in prison.

The Washington County District Attorney’s Office says Sain Delgado Venegas pleaded guilty on Sept. 3 to second-degree murder and two counts of first-degree attempted murder. He also pleaded guilty to possession of a weapon by an inmate in a separate case.

Venegas was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years. The life sentence will run consecutive to an additional eight year sentence for the possession of weapon case.

The deadly shooting happened on April 1, 2023, at Kim’s Red Rose on Southwest Oak Street. Venegas went to the bar with three friends and were asked to show their ID’s by the bartender. The men refused and were asked to leave.

The district attorney’s office says the group returned an hour later and sat in a different part of the bar. The same bartender spotted them and alerted the manager, 42-year-old Isaura Soto-Gaona, who asked them to leave once again.

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Three of the men left the bar but Venegas lingered near the doorway. The district attorney’s office says he pulled a handgun and tried to fire it twice in the direction of the bartender and Soto-Gaona, but the gun malfunctioned and did not fire. Venegas then racked the slide and fired a round directly at Soto-Gaona, who was hit in the chest.

Bar staff and officers tried to save Soto-Gaona but she did not survive.

Venegas was arrested and charged with murder a few days after the shooting.

According to the district attorney’s office, Venegas had recently been released from prison and met with his parole officer weeks prior to the shooting. In surveillance video from the courthouse and the bar, Venegas was seen wearing the same distinctive sweatshirt.

While awaiting trial for murder in the Washington County Jail, deputies found a makeshift weapon hidden in Venegas jail cell during a routine contraband search.

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