CLEVELAND – A judge has sentenced a man to 26 years to life in prison for a shooting last winter that killed a 5-year-old girl and wounded her mother as they sat in a vehicle parked on a Cleveland street.
An attorney for 33-year-old Geoffrey Gurkovich said in court Tuesday that Gurkovich did not know Noni (NAW'-nee) Brooks and her three children were in the SUV, which had dark-tinted windows. Prosecutors say Gurkovich fired four to five shots, killing Jermani (jer-MAWN'-ee) Brooks and wounding her mother last January.
The attorney says Gurkovich's estranged girlfriend had lied and told him she'd been harassed at a gas station earlier in the day by a man riding in Noni Brook's SUV.
Gurkovich pleaded guilty to murder in November. He tearfully apologized before sentencing.
