BRIDGEPORT -- Monday was sentencing day for a man who admits responsibility in the shooting death of a Bridgeport teenager who was in the wrong place at the wrong time on Christmas Eve 2015.
24-year-old Michael Majors, who had no prior criminal history, faced up to 40 years in prison. This after getting in a shootout with Garth Minto.
14-year-old Luis Colon got caught in the crossfire taking a bullet to the back.
"As the mother of the victim said, neither you nor Minto were out to injure, let alone kill this young man, but that doesn’t let you off the hook," said Judge Robert Devlin of the Bridgeport Superior Court.
During the late afternoon, on that Christmas Eve, the teenage went to a neighborhood store for his mom and never returned.
"Seeing it on video tape one is certainly struck by the fact that this public street, in the city of Bridgeport, Christmas Eve, is reminiscent of an old west shootout," said Howard Stein, a Senior Assistant State's Attorney.
The boy’s mother addressed the court through a translator.
"No one is winning anything here," she said. "Not them and certainly not me because nothing is going to return my son to me."
Prior to judge Devlin issuing his sentence, the defendant, Michael Majors, delivered an apology.
"I know there ain't enough words in this world to ease your pain, or come close to it, but, by me saying sorry, I’m hoping it brings you some type of ease to it or some type of closure," Majors said.
Majors' attorney asked for a 20 year sentence, but the judge felt otherwise.
"On the charge of manslaughter in the 1st with a firearm, the defendant is sentenced to 30 years followed by five years special parole," Devlin read.
Luis Colin’s mother had moved her family from their native Puerto Rico, which she considered too dangerous, to Bridgeport just eight months prior to his death.