A 21-year-old from Annapolis was sentenced to 15 years in prison Wednesday, nearly two years after a confrontation outside an Edgewater restaurant resulted in his best friend getting shot and killed.

Prosecutors said the defendant, Alex Salinas, was so close with Luis Meza-Santiago that police misidentified them in December 2022 as cousins. The pair are not related, though public defender Denis O’Connell said when Meza-Santiago was alive, with his client, “Where you saw one, you saw the other.”

Meza-Santiago’s death, both prosecuting and defense attorneys agreed, was an accident and any punishment, O’Connell said, would “pale in comparison” to the guilt Salinas experiences every day.

“That’s a burden he’s going to have to live with for the rest of his life,” he said.

At the time of the shooting, Salinas was 19.

Initially charged with manslaughter, Salinas’ case was escalated a month later when a grand jury indicted him on attempted murder, as well as first- and second-degree murder charges.

Hours after the killing, Anne Arundel Police detectives accused Salinas of shooting Meza-Santiago, 26, while drunkenly fighting a group outside a bar. On Wednesday, Assistant State’s Attorney Marot Williamson argued while Salinas did not intend to kill his friend, he did intend to kill someone and said he should be held accountable for that decision.

FBI surveillance footage captured outside the restaurant Los Chaparritos and played in court Wednesday showed Salinas after Meza-Santiago fell, but before police arrived. His behavior was described by his attorneys as “inconsolable.” Though several witnesses fled the scene, including someone who was handed the murder weapon, Salinas stayed, clutching Meza-Santiago and panicking.

At one point, Salinas collapsed in the parking lot and curled himself in front of an emergency vehicle, according to the defense.

In their presentation, the state recalled lies Salinas told investigators and said his callousness trumped his remorse. The FBI video also showed several moments where no one was providing aid to Meza-Santiago as he bled.

“The fact that he’s upset doesn’t change the damage he caused,” Williamson said.

Salinas pleaded guilty May 30 to second-degree murder and a firearm offense before Anne Arundel Circuit Judge Elizabeth Morris, who presided over a large group of family members Wednesday for both the defendant and the victim. Rendering her sentence, the judge acknowledged the grief of both families, but reminded the defendant that one day, he will return to his loved ones.

On Dec. 2, 2022, county police officers responded to the parking lot outside Los Chaparritos shortly after midnight, according to a news release. At the scene, police found Meza-Santiago on the asphalt, shot in the chest. First responders took the Annapolis man to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Several people witnessed the shooting, according to charging documents. One told officers Salinas and Meza-Santiago were “confronted by several unidentified males” outside the restaurant.

Meza-Santiago attempted to walk away, witnesses said, but returned when Salinas pulled out a handgun. He was shot soon after.

Though his client was short with investigators about what led to the shooting, O’Connell said a confrontation inside the restaurant had enflamed the evening and spilled into the lot. Salinas, the lawyer said, ran afoul of MS-13 gang members, who were known to frequent Los Chaparritos.

Salinas’ attorneys argued his underaged drinking and the restaurant’s “tough” atmosphere — O’Connell said his client had witnessed someone get stabbed and tossed outside, while the assailant sat back down at the bar — made him hyper-vigilant and sensitive to threats. The shooting, they said, was an attempt at self-defense, a claim a confidential informant within MS-13 relayed to authorities.

Playing the footage, which captured the shooting but missed most of the confrontation leading to it, Williamson said county police were unaware of the FBI’s surveillance camera until an hour after their arrival. According to the prosecutor, the federal agency was monitoring MS-13’s activities in the area.

Los Chaparritos has since changed owners and now operates as La Fogata Bar & Grill. O’Connell, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment, said the new restaurant has a good reputation.

“This was senseless gun violence and the victim’s life was taken away by an impulsive act,” Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney Anne Colt Leitess said in a statement Wednesday. “Luis was a loving son, nephew, brother, and the father of a young child. His family is devastated by their loss.”

Several members of Meza-Santiago’s family attended Wednesday’s hearing, though only two, his mother and his sister, wrote statements to Morris. The rest, the state said, were overwhelmed by their grief.

Guadalupe Meza, Luis’ sister, described her brother as her best friend and primary support. Since his death, she said her soul has been sunk with anger, hate and sadness, and believes she’s broken a promise they made to always protect each other.

In her letter to the judge, she asked, “What did we do to deserve this pain?”