DENVER – A 20-year-old man was sentenced to 35 years in prison for the deadly shooting of a 17-year-old at the Aurora Town Center in late December 2019.

Kamyl Garrette, 20, received the maximum sentence in the shooting death of Nathan Poindexter, Jr., 17, who was shot and killed just inside the JCPenney store at the mall after a fight with Garrette and another man.

Garrette pleaded guilty in October to one count of second-degree murder in Poindexter’s death. Another man arrested in the shooting, 20-year-old Senoj Jones, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in May and was given a 25-year suspended sentence so long as he completes seven years in the Youthful Offender System.

Poindexter had been at the mall with his family on Dec. 27, 2019, and had been in previous altercations with the two others, according to an arrest affidavit. It says that Garrette and Jones jumped Poindexter inside of the mall.

Later on, with some of Poindexter’s family standing beside him near the entrance to the JCPenney store, Garrette pulled a gun and shot Poindexter in the head. He died at a local hospital.

Witnesses identified the two young man as the suspects in the shooting, and both turned themselves in to police and were later charged.

Garrette received a plea deal in the case after he was originally charged with first-degree murder. In addition to the second-degree murder charge, he also received a sentence enhancer for committing a violent crime.

According to the district attorney’s office, Poindexter’s mother and grandmother were among those who gave victim impact statements at Garrette’s sentencing.

Senior Deputy District Attorney Casey Brown, one of the prosecutors on the case, said the fight never should have led to the shooting.

“Fights happen, but what occurred outside of JCPenney was not the natural progression of a fist fight,” Brown said. “This escalation of violence was entirely unnecessary, and it only perpetuates more violence. … There should be stiff consequences for pulling a trigger during what could have been a fist fight.”

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