MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A former Miami-Dade Schools police officer received a lengthy prison sentence Friday, years after she shot her ex-boyfriend, who is a Miami-Dade sheriff’s deputy.
Yessenia Sanchez, 35, pleaded guilty to charges of attempted murder in the first degree and aggravated stalking and was sentenced to 30 years in prison, to be followed by 20 years of probation.
She was ordered to stay away from MDSO Deputy Damian Colón, and is not permitted to have any contact with him.
“Justice is served, and I think she got what she deserved,” Colón, who now uses a wheelchair, said. “I think she should have gotten more, but I’ll take what she got.”
Surveillance video obtained last month by Local 10 News shows the November 2022 shooting.
According to authorities, Sanchez, who was arrested in 2022, tracked Colón to his Hialeah home before shooting him in the head and fleeing the scene.
The surveillance footage captures the two outside the home.
Moments later, Sanchez, while holding a gun in hand, appeared to fire a shot, causing Colón to collapse.
After the shooting, security footage from the neighborhood shows her truck crashing into multiple parked vehicles before she abandoned it and ran.
Investigators say Sanchez used an app to track Colón to his Hialeah home, shot him, and “left a path of destruction” behind.
Deputies said Colón was rushed to a nearby hospital in critical condition, but he survived.
Authorities said Sanchez was later arrested at her Hialeah home.
Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle released the following statement after Friday’s hearing:
“No one is immune to the terror and horror of domestic violence. Former police officer Yessenia Sanchez’(s) shooting of her ex-boyfriend, another police officer, sadly proves this point. Her violent act displayed the sheer explosion of aggression inherent in every incident of domestic violence. Sanchez’(s) 30-year sentence cannot restore the physical damage she did while trying to kill the man she once claimed to have loved. Sadly, those scars will last forever.
“I applaud the work of all the Assistant State Attorneys who have vigorously labored to bring this case to a conclusion and helped our victims close the book on this painful and terrible incident.”