Prosecutors said the Longmont attack was planned for weeks and left the victim wounded in the face, shoulder, arm and thigh.
LONGMONT, Colo. — A Colorado woman was sentenced to 40 years in prison after prosecutors said she waited outside her former boyfriend’s apartment and shot him at least six times at close range when he came home on Feb. 5, 2025.
Duy Nguyen, 26, was convicted in December of attempted first-degree murder, first-degree assault and two sentence enhancers tied to violence in the attack on Chance Cardona, then 27. The sentence closes one stage of a case that prosecutors said was built from shell casings, license plate reader images, a gun recovered from Nguyen’s home and digital evidence they said showed she had been planning the shooting for weeks. The stakes were clear from the start: Cardona survived, but only after being hit multiple times and managing to call 911 himself.
According to investigators, the shooting happened just after 8:45 p.m. at the Green Meadows apartment complex in Longmont, about 15 miles northeast of Boulder. Prosecutors said Cardona had driven home from the Colorado Mountain Kava Bar and had just parked when the gunfire began. As soon as he opened the car door, he was hit at point-blank range at least six times. The bullets struck his face, shoulder, arm and thigh, yet he stayed conscious long enough to call for help. Officers responding to the complex found a badly wounded man who could not fully identify the shooter but told them he believed his former girlfriend might be responsible. The two had broken up months earlier. That early statement, combined with physical evidence at the scene, helped shape the investigation in its first hours.
Police said shell casings recovered from the parking area and images from an automatic license plate reader showed a vehicle tied to Nguyen leaving the area after the shooting. Investigators later served a search warrant at her home and said they found the gun used in the attack. They also seized electronic devices that prosecutors said revealed weeks of planning before the shooting. Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty said the case was solved because of “excellent, thorough response” work by Longmont police and the evidence gathered during the investigation. Longmont Police Chief David Moore said the victim “was ambushed and suffered multiple gunshot wounds,” adding that the outcome reflected a team effort by officers, detectives, staff and prosecutors. Authorities have not publicly detailed every step of the alleged planning or said exactly when Nguyen decided to carry out the shooting. They also have not publicly laid out a fuller motive beyond the ended relationship.
The case moved through Boulder County court over much of 2025 before a jury returned guilty verdicts in December. Prosecutors said Nguyen was convicted on all counts, including attempted first-degree murder, first-degree assault and two crimes of violence sentence enhancers. The charges carried steep penalties even before sentencing. Prosecutors had emphasized that the number of shots, the close range and the location of the wounds pointed to an intent to kill. Deputy District Attorney Brad Sherman later said the reason the case was being handled as an attempted murder instead of a murder was “only because, by sheer luck,” the victim lived. That point became a central fact in how officials described the case after trial. The attack also fit a pattern common in domestic violence prosecutions, where prosecutors often rely on both victim statements and digital records to show premeditation, especially when a former partner is accused of waiting for the victim at home or during a routine daily stop.
At sentencing on Feb. 13, 2026, the judge imposed 40 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections on the attempted murder conviction and 20 years on the assault count. The sentences are to run concurrently, meaning the 40-year term controls how long Nguyen is expected to serve, subject to Colorado law and correctional rules. The sentence fell within the range prosecutors had outlined after trial. According to the district attorney’s office, attempted first-degree murder in this case carried a sentencing range of 16 to 48 years, while first-degree assault carried a range of 10 to 32 years. The violence enhancers increased the seriousness of the punishment at issue. With sentencing complete, the next procedural steps would typically involve the filing of any post-conviction motions or an appeal if the defense chooses to challenge the verdict or sentence. No public ruling in the materials reviewed described any such filing at the time of the sentence.
Even in the brief public summaries released by officials, the human details of the case remained stark. Cardona had returned to a place that should have been routine and safe: the parking area outside his apartment. Instead, prosecutors said, he was met by gunfire before he could fully get out of his car. Dougherty praised jurors for allowing the defendant to “be held fully responsible for this inexcusable act of gun violence.” Moore said the result could help the victim begin “the healing process.” Sherman, speaking after sentencing, said the punishment “accurately reflects the defendant’s culpability in this case and hopefully brings a measure of justice and closure to the victim.” Cardona’s survival shaped every stage of the case, from the 911 call to the verdict to the final sentence. What remains less clear in the public record is whether he addressed the court directly at sentencing or how his recovery has progressed since the shooting.
The case now stands with Nguyen sentenced to 40 years in state prison after her December conviction. The next milestone would likely come only if an appeal or other post-sentencing challenge is filed in Boulder County court.