Gilbert man sentenced to 38 years for shooting girlfriend to death while children were home

PHOENIX — A Gilbert man was sentenced to spend 38 years in prison for murdering his girlfriend and shooting at her children, authorities announced on Wednesday.

Preston Joseph Allen, 31, shot his girlfriend 13 times on Oct. 25, 2023, according to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office.

She had filed a restraining order against him months before the murder, prosecutors said. The order listed various times he had abused her.

The crime took place inside their Gilbert home when four children were present, prosecutors said.

After the shooting, Allen went to one of the children’s bedrooms and shot at the boy’s bed, prosecutors said. The boy covered himself and squirmed around the bed to avoid the bullets.

County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said Allen’s actions gave his girlfriend’s children lifelong trauma.

“On the night of the killing, these children were in their rooms knowing their mother was being killed just a few feet away,” Mitchell said in a news release. “The trauma these four children will have to live with will forever impact their lives.”

Allen was sentenced on one count of second-degree murder and one count of attempted first-degree murder.

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