Three men shot at each other on a busy D.C. street in summer 2015, killing innocent bystander Matthew Shlonsky, a 23-year-old who had recently graduated from American University.
On Monday, the young men each were sentenced to spend more than a decade in prison.
Andre Dudley, 22, is set to spend 18-and-a-half years behind bars. Marcus King, 22, received a 17.5-year sentence. And Christopher Proctor, 28, received 14 years.
On Aug. 15, 2015, Shlonsky had just gotten out of an Uber vehicle with friends near the Shaw Metro station and was heading to a concert at the Howard Theatre when shots rang out in the 1800 block of 7th Street NW.
One of the bullets struck Shlonsky in the chest. He was pronounced dead a short time later.
King and Proctor shot at Dudley, and he fired back, after they spotted each other near a liquor store at Seventh and S streets NW, prosecutors said. King and Proctor were associated with the Ninth Street neighborhood "crew," according to prosecutors.
Many other people were in the area at the time of the shooting, including a couple with four children.
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Shlonsky, a Cleveland native, had graduated from college just a year before he was killed. He earned a degree in international studies and had worked as an intern for Ohio Sen. Rob Portman.
Shlonsky's family is devastated by the promising young man's death, his cousin Lou Carrin said.
"The loss of him, the devastation to his family, affected me worse than any loss I've had in my entire life," Carrin said.
Judges called the crime brazen and reckless.
Proctor spoke in court on Monday, apologizing to the victim's family. The other two shooters said nothing.
Before surrendering to police, King said he was innocent, telling News4's Mark Segraves in an exclusive interview that he was nearby when Shlonsky was caught in crossfire but that he was not involved.
The three men pleaded guilty in June to one count of voluntary manslaughter while armed and two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon.
Dudley also pleaded guilty in June to stabbing a fellow inmate at the D.C. Jail. The inmate survived.
