Phillip Mendoza, 62, was sentenced to nearly two decades for a 2020 shooting in Akron that killed 1-year-old Tyree Halsell Tuesday afternoon, Summit County Prosecutor Elliot Kolvich announced.
According to prosecutors, Mendoza pleaded guilty to the following charges:
- Conspiracy to commit murder with a gun specification – a first-degree felony
- Three counts of felonious assault with gun specifications – second-degree felonies
After the plea was accepted, Judge Alison McCarty sentenced Mendoza to up to fifteen years in prison.
In August 2020, several shots were fired at a home in East Akron around South Arlington Street near Interstate 76.
Tyree's grandmother, Wonderous Halsell, was searching for justice for her grandson after he was struck in the head by a stray bullet.
"We didn't give him a chance to even get up and know what life is all about. He didn't even get to know what life was," she said. "If they don't solve my grandson's murder, I'm not going to rest."
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