Assailant pleads guilty in shooting that left cheerleader paralyzed
Dante Ulanday - News Moderator 
A man who opened fire outside a party in Talmadge and shot a teen bystander leaving her paralyzed has pleaded guilty in the two-year-old case.
Juan Diaz Velazco, 21, is set to be sentenced later to 24 years in state prison for attempted murder and assault with a semiautomatic firearm causing paralysis.
San Diego police said gunfire broke out in the early-morning hours of Oct. 28, 2023 amid a fight between two groups of people on Winona Avenue.
According to the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office, the shooting happened after “gang members issued gang challenges to rivals outside of a high school party. Diaz Velazco fired the first shots which hit and paralyzed an innocent girl, who was a high school cheerleader.”
Prosecutors said the gunshots fired by the defendant, who was 19 at the time, struck Brianna Wallace in the back. Wallace, then a Lincoln High School student, was paralyzed from the waist down as a result.
