Man sentenced for shooting teenage boy

EPHRATA — A Quincy man is serving roughly a year in prison for shooting a teenage boy in the leg last year.

Uriel Sanchez Velasquez, 20, pleaded guilty in Grant County Superior Court to assault in the second degree. The original charge of assault in the first degree was lessened as part of the plea agreement.

Grant County Superior Court Judge Evan Sperline followed the prosecutor’s recommendation sentencing Velasquez to the minimum of a year and one month in prison. The maximum the man could have faced was a year and five months in prison, based on Velaquez’s crimes and six prior convictions.

Quincy police reported Velasquez, reportedly a gang member, shot at the 15-year-old victim several times, hitting him once in the thigh, as the teenager was walking near the Third Avenue Apartments. The victim was able to make it to a friend’s house and received help.

The victim was allegedly friends with members of a rival gang.