2014 Aviator Casino Killing Ends in Life Sentence
Posted on: May 24, 2025, 06:23h.
Last updated on: May 24, 2025, 06:23h.
- Carlos Reveles sentenced to 25 years for Aviator Casino murder
- Co-defendant kicked dying victim, received three-year term
- Family called for harsher punishment during sentencing hearing
A Delano, Calif, man has been sentenced to 25 years to life for first-degree murder in relation to the fatal shooting of a man outside the city’s Aviator Casino in 2014.
Carlos Augusto Reveles, 41, pleaded guilty to killing 46-year-old David Medina during a fight between two groups of people outside the casino.
Co-defendant Vincent Mike Gonzalez, now an aspiring Christian rapper, was sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter. He kicked Medina as he lay dying on the ground.
‘Gave Negativity to the Lord’
Gonzalez apologized to Medina’s family in court, saying substance abuse had contributed to his actions, but he had turned his life around and “gave all that negativity to the Lord,” as reported by local NBC affiliate KGET.
Reveles was originally arrested in 2015 but was freed three days later because the case “wasn’t developed” according to the Kern County DA’s Office. He was rearrested and charged in 2019.
Murder cases do not have a statute of limitations, and we are committed to working with police agencies to investigate homicides for as long as it takes to develop the evidence needed for prosecution,” the DA’s Office said at the time.
Killer Could Have Left
On the night of August 9, 2014, police responded to reports of a fight in the parking lot of the Aviator. When they arrived, they found Medina suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. He was taken to a local hospital where he died of his wounds.
In summarizing the case Thursday, Judge Colette M. Humphrey of Kern County Superior Court said Reveles and Gonzalez had been losing the fight and at one point they ran to Reveles’ car. They could have left at that point, but instead Reveles armed himself with a gun, drove toward Medina, and started shooting.
Medina’s family asked the court for harsher sentences. The victim’s brother said he would prefer to see Reveles get life without parole and Gonzalez to serve more than 10 years in prison.
“When I think about what is just and what is fair, there is nothing on this earth that can right this wrong,” Medina’s niece told the court.
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