SEATTLE -- A young Seattle man has been sentenced to 17 years in prison for a Nov. 22, 2008, shooting at the Westfield Southcenter mall that killed one teen and injured another.
Barry Lee Saunders Jr. pleaded guilty last month to second-degree murder and second-degree assault for fatally shooting 16-year-old Diaquan Jones and wounding Jermaine McGowan, then 15. The now-23-year-old Saunders was sentenced Friday in King County Superior Court.
According to charging documents, Saunders' brother and a friend encountered a group including Jones and McGowan at the mall and gang signs led to a fistfight. Saunders' brother saw Saunders in the distance and called for him.
Saunders was arrested in Portland four days after the shooting.
