A suspect being held in connection with an April 2015 Hillsborough shooting was sentenced to 10-13 years in prison on Tuesday.
Assistant District Attorney Byron Beasley said in court that Antuanne Montez Shaw fired “multiple rounds” into an occupied vehicle on April 9, 2015, at the D-N-G Mart near Hillsborough.
Two of those bullets struck one of the occupants in each shoulder.
Beasley said that the shots were fired after an argument took place in the convenience store parking lot. Beasley said Shaw’s co-defendant, Antonio “Tony” Laturan Whitted parked an Impala at D-N-G, when a female who shared a child and had an “ongoing disagreement” with Whitted drove her Honda into the parking lot.
Beasley said that Shaw left the Impala while the argument was ongoing and brandished a handgun. Shaw then handed the firearm to Whitted, who struck one of the three individuals in the second vehicle with the gun’s handle, according to Beasley.
Surveillance footage shows the Imapla attempting to leave the parking lot when another individual involved in the confrontation kicked the vehicle.
The Impala then stopped in the roadway, according to Beasley, and Shaw got out and walked toward the vehicle before firing the shots.
Shaw has been held in Orange County Jail since turning himself in to law enforcement just after the shooting.
“Mr. Shaw’s a young man who, up until today, had no criminal history, and it’s a shame all the way around,” Beasley said. “But it was a particularly violent offense.”
As the incident was being recounted to the court, an individual sitting with Shaw’s family left the courtroom in tears.
Shaw’s defense attorney, Jonathan Trapp, said Shaw was nearing his high school graduation at the time of the shooting, which he has not been able to complete.
Trapp said several school administrators had written letters saying this was out of character for who they felt Shaw was a person.
“Mr. Shaw had only been at this school for one year, and for them to feel compelled to write these notes with less than a full school year knowing him shows that he made an impact on that community,” Trapp said, adding Shaw’s family had been a strong support system.
“They’re surprised and disappointed at this outcome and the decisions he made, and I know he is,” Trapp said. “Because right now he should be preparing for class at some university being another member of his family getting a higher education.”
Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour told Shaw from the bench that he hoped Shaw would use the time in prison to think about what his life would be once his sentence was served.
“You’re going to get out of prison, and you’re going to need to figure out what kind of life it is you want to lead,” Baddour said. “Hopefully, it will be one where you’ve got your GED, figured out some sort of trade, maybe been on work release, got a good plan for life when you get out so that you can answer questions like, why you did what you did.”
Shaw entered a guilty plea on Tuesday to varying charges including attempted first-degree murder. Baddour sentenced Shaw to between 125 and 162 months in prison with credit for time served. The maximum sentence if Shaw had been convicted of all counts in a jury trial would have been 946 months, according to Baddour.
Whitted has a court date set for late February.
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