Ex-ice cream truck driver who mistakenly killed 2 gets life in prison

A former ice cream truck driver convicted of fatally shooting two people and seriously wounding four others in a case of mistaken identity has been sentenced to life in prison, more than decade after the deadly violence unfolded in Florida.

Michael Keetley was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and four counts of attempted murder for the shooting, which occurred on Thanksgiving Day 12 years ago. On Friday, Judge Christopher Sabella sentenced Keetley to life in prison for each of the six counts he faced, with no possibility of parole, WTSP reported.

“This has been a very long road and a very difficult case,” Sabella said while announcing the sentence. “What it shows to the victims in this case is that justice is not always swift, but justice is eventually served.”

Prosecutors said Keetley was seeking revenge after he was was beaten, shot and robbed while working from his ice cream truck. Frustrated by the slow-moving investigation, Keetley opted to take matters into his own hands. He became became obsessed with the idea that a man nicknamed “Creeper” was behind the robbery and planned to find and harm him the night he was attacked.

The morning of Nov. 25, 2010, Keetley pulled up to a house in the Ocean Mist neighborhood in Ruskin where he thought “Creeper” lived. He opened fire on a group of people on the front porch, fatally striking brothers Juan Guitron, 28, and Sergio Guitron, 22. Another four people were also wounded in the violence.

Prosecutors said none of the people shot played a role in the attack on Keetley. What’s more, there is no evidence to suggest anyone named “Creeper” was involved.

Keetley has long maintained his innocence. During the trial, his lawyers unsuccessfully argued that survivors of the shooting identified the wrong man and that Keetley was not capable of firing a gun because of injuries sustained when he was shot and robbed months earlier.