Father sentenced to eight years after son found his hidden gun
Two boys left alone in South Beloit in 2023 left 10-year-old Aidyn Hansen dead.
A South Beloit man has been sentenced to eight years in prison for acts of child endangerment that ended in the shooting death of 10-year-old Aidyn Hansen. The Jan. 21, 2025 verdict also included six months of mandatory supervised release.
On September 15, 2023, Jose Manuel Sandoval-Tenorio and his wife left his son and Aidyn alone at their home with handguns that had not been locked up. Aidyn wasn't allowed to play guns and had never even held one. But Aidyn's 9-year-old playmate knew where his father kept them.
As Aidyn's mother later learned, Aidyn was lying on his back playing a game, perhaps on his phone, perhaps on Nintendo, when the other child shot him. Aidyn quickly sat up, screaming, said a few words, and passed out.
The playmate didn't seem to understand the gravity of the situation. Later, he called a friend, mentioning Aidyn was unconscious. He had taken a video of the shooting with his phone. Paramedics arrived to find Aidyn with a bullet wound to his heart. He was pronounced dead at Javon Bea Hospital.
Winnebago County State's Attorney J. Hanley charged that it was easy for Sandoval-Tenorio's son to remove the floorboard concealing his guns and ammunition. After Sandoval-Tenorio's arrest, defense attorney Jason Tempin argued the man, who had lived in the area for 13 years and had a job, was not a danger to society nor a flight risk. Judge Scott Paccagnini released him until his next hearing on Oct. 17, 2023.
At a November 2024 hearing, Assistant State's Attorney Kirstin Krivanec agreed to drop a second count of endangering the life or health of a child (his son's) and two counts of not having a Firearm Owners Identification Card.
At a December 2, 2024 hearing, Sandoval-Tenorio pleaded guilty to one count of child endangerment leading to death, a Class 3 felony. He was admonished by the judge about the Firearm Act, possible deportation if he is not a U.S. citizen, and other collateral consequences of pleading guilty.
The final verdict was issued on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025 by Judge Scott R. Paccagnini of Winnebago County 17th Judicial Circuit Court. By 4:30 p.m., Sandoval-Tenorio, age 31, had been booked into Winnebago County Jail, waiting to begin his eight year sentence in the Illinois Department of Corrections. On January 24, restitution was set at $15,216.94.
Aidyn's mother, Ashley Gray, still has an active wrongful death lawsuit against Sandoval-Tenorio. She told us she was disturbed by how the defendant spoke to her in his statement, but was thankful that her attorney and the judge "put a stop to it quickly."
Gray told us, "I knew 8 years was an option - per our last 402 conference [regarding the plea bargain]. Unfortunately nobody 'won' in this situation."
