A 19-year-old man was sentenced to 17 years in prison Monday for a shooting in Brooklyn that left an 11-year-old girl paralyzed.
Tayloni Mazyck was waiting for her aunt outside her Bedford-Stuyvesant home one evening in 2013 when then 17-year-old Kane Cooper opened fire at members of a rival gang standing nearby.
A stray bullet pierced Mazyck's throat, ricocheting down her spine before lodging in her back.
Kane, who was arrested soon after the shooting, plead guilty to first-degree assault last month.
On Monday, Mazyck, now 13, wheeled herself in to the courtroom to read a victim's statement, but was too overcome with emotion to speak, so her brother Daiquan Mazyck stepped in.
"Because of your actions I have no pain and endured more pain in my short life than most," he said on his sister's behalf.
Mazyck's family said that in addition to her injuries the girl suffered emotional distress, depression and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. After the sentencing, the family said they would have a liked to see Kane receive a harsher sentence.
"This is my little sister," Daiquan Mazyck said, "It's just so hard to see my sister go through this."
