BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) -- A woman who pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter in the shooting death of her boyfriend was sentenced Tuesday to 21 years in prison. Cony Alvarado-Romero, 33, told police she fired a single shot at Jose Luis Hernandez Laureano after they fought in east Bakersfield. She claimed he assaulted her and she fired as he walked away. The bullet struck Hernandez Laureano, 30, from behind near his left shoulder and exited through his chest. He was pronounced dead at Kern Medical. Alvarado-Romero had no injuries, police said in court documents. She was initially charged with murder -- and Hernandez Laureano's family says murder is what she committed. "No one will ever convince us that this was a crime of passion or an act committed in the heat of the moment," Hernandez Laureano's sister-in-law said before sentencing, reading a statement prepared by her and Hernandez Laureano's brother. She said Alvarado-Romero planned the killing, calling her a "woman without morals or values" who feels no remorse. She said she hopes Alvarado-Romero is forever haunted by her actions. There was no reason Hernandez Laureano had to die, she said. "(Hernandez Laureano) was taken from us . . . in a manner that was both cruel and senseless," she said. Hernandez Laureano was shot Nov. 17, 2021, on Latham Street. When police arrived, Hernandez Laureano, lying bleeding in the street, pointed to Alvarado-Romero and said “Ella me disparo (she shot me),” according to court documents. Alvarado-Romero denied it. But later, confronted with what police learned from security camera footage and neighbors, she admitted to firing the shot -- saying she did so only after Hernandez Laureano assaulted her, according to the documents. Alvarado-Romero was released from custody shortly after the shooting after prosecutors sent the case back for further investigation. She was charged in October 2022.