Man sentenced for shooting outside Lakewood gas station

A 19-year-old involved in a shootout outside a Lakewood gas station was sentenced Friday to more than a decade in prison.

Earlier this month, a jury found LeShaun Alexander Jr., 19, guilty of first-degree assault and unlawful gun possession, in connection to the Oct. 16, 2015, shooting.

Friday, Judge Ronald Culpepper sentenced Alexander to 13  1/2 years behind bars.

According to court records:

Alexander shot at 22-year-old Atere Norman, as Norman left a convenience store in the 8300 block of Tacoma Mall Boulevard. Norman returned fire, and Amancio Resan Tolbert, 20, drove Alexander away. No one was injured.

In his sentencing memorandum, defense attorney Spencer Freeman argued Norman was upset about how Alexander had treated an acquaintance’s sister, and that Norman had been targeting him.

“LeShaun reasonably and truly believed that as Mr. Norman exited the convenience store, Mr. Norman was going to shoot him,” Freeman wrote.

Norman, 22, pleaded guilty to unlawful firearm possession in January, and received a sentence of two years, 11 months.

Tolbert pleaded guilty to second-degree assault Dec. 5 as part of negotiations with prosecutors. He was sentenced to a year, and was given credit for 416 days he already spent in jail.

Prosecutors dropped charges against a third person they believed was in the car Tolbert drove, 19-year-old Randy Antonio Smith, after they decided they couldn’t prove that he was an accomplice.

This story was originally published December 30, 2016 at 5:45 PM with the headline "Man sentenced for shooting outside Lakewood gas station."