AURORA, Colo. -- Even though one of the primary witnesses couldn't testify in court because he was killed before he could speak, an Arapahoe County jury found the gunman accused in the trial guilty of murder.

Sir Mario Owens was found guilty of killing Gregory Vann and injuring two others during a Fourth of July celebration in 2004.

According to testimony presented during the three-week trial, Vann and his friend, Javad Marshall-Fields, had hosted a rap music festival all day at Lowry Park in Aurora and it had been peaceful. Then a car with Owens and Robert Ray pulled up and there was a confrontation. Owens opened fire as he tried to flee, prosecutors said. Vann was killed and Marshall-Fields and one other person was injured.

On Tuesday, after two and a half days of deliberating, a jury found Owens guilty of one count of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree attempted murder and two counts of assault causing serious bodily injury.

He faces a minimum of life in prison without the possibility of parole and will be sentenced April 3.

Speaking after the verdict was delivered, Vann's mother said she finally has justice.

"There were some days where I didn't know whether I was going to make it that day. But I know to get this far, I had to keep going. Because my baby deserved that much, you know. And I wasn't about to let him down," said Annetta Vann. "You know, I know my baby is smiling on me, standing up there and knowing that justice is served."

Looking skyward, she said, "You deserve every bit."

"To look down on me ... and now I can look up at the sky and know his name just didn't go in vain," Vann said.

The night before Marshall-Fields was to testify in Owens' trial, he and his fiancee, Vivian Wolfe, were shot gunned down while driving through an intersection.

Owens' trial had to be delayed because of their killings, but prosecutors are pleased with the ultimate outcome -- a guilty verdict.

The trial was high-profile because prosecutors said they couldn't stand by and allow witnesses to be intimidated, or in this case, murdered. Prosecutors believe Owens was also responsible to some degree in the Marshall-Fields and Wolfe murders, and he still faces a trail in those two cases.

Prosecutors said they may seek the death penalty then.

Ray has already been convicted of being an accessory to murder in Vann's death. Ray faces 32 to 108 years in prison on seven of the nine charges. He'll be sentenced in February.