King County prosecutors are recommending a 31½-year sentence for an Auburn man who recently pleaded guilty to killing his ex-girlfriend’s boyfriend two years ago.

Michael Ray Fiorini, 28, pleaded guilty last week to first-degree murder with a firearm enhancement for breaking in to his ex-girlfriend’s Federal Way apartment on Feb. 24, 2011 then shooting and killing the woman’s current boyfriend, Christopher D. Johnson, 27. According to the King County Medical Examiner’s Office, Johnson died from a single gunshot wound to the chest.

The woman and Fiorini had lived together for some time after high school but broke up in 2004 following a domestic violence incident. The two, however, remained in periodic contact.

At about 3:15 a.m. that day, according to court papers, Fiorini broke the sliding glass door to his ex-girlfriend’s apartment at the Habitat Condominiums at 33005 18th Place S, entered, confronted his ex-girlfriend, 27, who was lying on the couch, pointed a gun at her and told her to “shut up.”

Johnson, who had been sleeping in the bedroom, heard his girlfriend scream, came out and approached the woman and Fiorini.

Fiorini then shot Johnson in the chest.

Police later found Johnson on the floor of the bedroom. Medical personnel could not revive him and pronounced him dead at the scene.

A K-9 unit tracked Fiorini from the apartment to some bushes where he had been hiding, about one-tenth of a mile east of the crime scene. Fiorini was armed with a 9-mm pistol, and police found a spent cartridge case in the chamber of the gun.

According to court papers, Fiorini’s father told detectives that his son had been upset about her new relationship and on the night of the shooting, the younger man allegedly said “something to the effect that he was going to ‘kill that son of a bitch.'”

The standard sentencing range for first-degree murder with a firearm enhancement is 31-38 years in prison.