A teen who reportedly shot and killed another teen in the Longmont Hobby Lobby parking lot in March 2023 pleaded guilty Friday to second-degree murder.

Christian Mendoza, 17, was charged as an adult for the death of Robert Maldonado, according to court documents. He is set for sentencing on April 7.

Mendoza was initially charged with first-degree murder — after deliberation; second-degree murder; second-degree assault — causing injury with a deadly weapon; felony menacing; carrying a concealed weapon — knife or gun; juvenile possession of a handgun; and multiple violent crime enhancers.

When he entered the second-degree murder plea, the remaining charges were dismissed.

Mendoza was identified as a repeat and violent juvenile offender in a grand jury indictment released by the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office on June 4, 2023.

Maldonado was fatally struck in the back by a single bullet on the evening of March 24, 2023 according to the indictment.

He was later found unresponsive in the driver’s seat of a truck that crashed into a traffic pole on the southeast corner of Hover Street and Nelson Road.

He was taken to a hospital where he was later pronounced dead.

Both Maldonado and Mendoza attended a car meet at 800 S. Hover St. that evening, according to the indictment. Witness statements and video footage indicated that the shooting was preceded by an assault at the car meet, police said.

Video footage indicates five gunshots were fired into the air.

The police and grand jury investigations established there was motive for murder as evidenced by the assault before the fatal shooting.

Mendoza’s booking photo is not available, since he was a juvenile at the time of the offense.