HELENA — Tony Louis Valez agreed to plead guilty to fatally shooting his 8-year-old daughter Arianna at his Helena home in July of 2022.
Officers were called to the area just after 5 p.m. for a report from a man that told dispatchers he shot at people inside his residence due to those people trying to assault him.
A second 911 call was made by another person in the same residence stating that an adult female was shot.
Court documents state that Valez believed that the two people had come to his residence in order to remove him. Documents say that neither person made any threatening gestures or verbal threats towards Valez.
Police say that Valez admitted that he snapped, retrieved a firearm from his bedroom, and began shooting at the two people.
One woman was struck by the gunfire. Bullets missed the second person, but hit Arianna. The young girl was taken to a ospital where she was pronounced dead at 5:47 p.m.
The plea agreement was filed in District Court on August 31, just days before Valez was scheduled to go to trial.
As part of the agreement to plead guilty, prosecutors will drop two charges of attempted deliberate homicide and one charge of criminal endangement, all felonies.
Valez faces a minimum of 10 years in prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced on November 1.
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