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A 21-year-old Lubbock man who stabbed a homeless stranger to death and then called 911 to report the killing was sentenced to 50 years in prison, according to KCBD-TV.

Eric Perez pleaded guilty to murder in the August 2010 death of Danny Brazeal, 40, and was sentenced on April 9, 2012, in a Lubbock County courtroom, the station reported. He would not be eligible for parole for 25 years under the terms of the sentence.

Police said Perez had argued with his ex-girlfriend in the days before the killing and had decided he was going to kill someone, according to KCBD. He went to a Walmart intending to buy a hatchet, and when he could not find one, bought a knife instead, investigators said.

Perez ran into Brazeal, who was homeless, after leaving the store, police said. Brazeal asked him for money to buy drugs, and the two shared a bottle of whiskey in a secluded area near the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center. When the bottle was empty, the men knelt to pray, investigators said. Perez then stabbed Brazeal repeatedly in the back and chest.

Perez called 911 himself and reported that he had killed a man, police said. According to the recording of the call, which has circulated through the dispatch-training site 911dispatch.com, dispatcher Jennifer Arenivas kept Perez talking and confirmed his location while officers were sent to the scene. Police found Brazeal's body where Perez told them it would be.

At the sentencing, members of Brazeal's family addressed Perez from the witness stand. "It feels like we were robbed," his cousin Tommy Williamson told the court, according to KCBD. "But there's one thing that can't be taken away and that's his memories."