Mpls. 5-year-old's killer sentenced

Nizzel George
Nizzel Anthony George, 5, was killed on Tuesday June 26, 2012, when he was struck by a bullet while sleeping on a couch in a home on Knox Avenue in north Minneapolis.
Handout photo

A Minneapolis teenager has been sentenced to 28 years in prison for the death of a 5-year-old boy who was struck by a stray bullet during a gang-related shooting.

Stephon Shannon, 17, heard his sentence in Hennepin County District Court Tuesday. The teen earlier pleaded guilty to second-degree intentional murder for the benefit of a gang.

Nizzel George was sleeping on his grandmother's couch last June when bullets tore through the front wall, striking Nizzel in the back.

President Barack Obama talked about the boy's death Monday during a visit to a police station blocks from where George was killed.

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