COLUMBIA, S.C. – A former honor student from Columbia has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for killing a 21-year-old woman in what prosecutors say was a gang dispute.
WIS-TV reported that 19-year-old Tyrone Lewis pleaded guilty to murder Thursday. He faced from 30 years to life in prison.
Lewis admitted he fired four shots into Kyara Fitzgerald's car in August 2007. She was hit in the back and died.
Authorities say Fitzgerald was in a gang that was having a dispute with Lewis' rival gang. Her mother said that was not true.
Lewis apologized before he was sentenced. Defense attorneys said he was an honor student in math and science at Columbia High School and his parents moved to Columbia from New York a few years ago to keep him out of trouble.
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