Teen sentenced to state facility for role in Chiefs rally shooting - ESPN

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A 15-year-old who was among those charged with opening fire during the Kansas City Chiefs' Super Bowl rally has been sentenced to a state facility for youths.

«That is not who I am,» the teen, who was referred to as R.G. in court documents, said at Thursday's hearing. He described himself as a good kid before he became associated with a group of peers involved in the Feb. 14 shooting, The Kansas City Star reported.

The host of a local radio program was killed, 25 were wounded, and 69 others sustained other injuries, such as broken bones and dislocated joints, as they fled, Kansas City police Det. Grant Spiking testified.

Jackson County prosecutors have alleged that the shooting was set off during an altercation between two groups. Lyndell Mays, one of the three men facing a murder charge in the death of Lisa Lopez Galvan, is accused of being the first person to start firing.

After that, R.G. began to shoot toward Mays and hit another person in his own group, Dominic Miller, who also is charged with murder, Spiking said.

«You made some bad choices, but that doesn't make you a bad person. It doesn't make you a bad kid,» Jackson County Family Court Administrative Judge Jennifer Phillips said during a proceeding similar to a sentencing hearing in adult court.

A commitment at a state Department of Youth Services facility typically lasts 9 to 12 months, a deputy juvenile officer with Jackson County Circuit Court said.

Earlier this month, Phillips accepted the teen's admission that he committed the charge of unlawful use of a weapon by knowingly discharging or firing a firearm at a person.

The Jackson County Juvenile Officer's office, which oversees youth cases, dismissed a second charge, armed criminal