MITCHELL, S.D. (KELO.com) — A 20-year-old man arrested after firing shots from a moving vehicle in a Mitchell neighborhood last August was sentenced to 12 years in prison on Tuesday.
Johnathan Velazquez was given credit for 188 days in jail by Judge Chris Giles.
The sentence of 17 years includes 5 years that were suspended.
Velazquez and 25-year-old Isaac Chytka were involved in a pursuit with Skylar Battest of Mitchell. Velazquez’s attorney, Dava Wermers, said Velazquez believed Battest was responsible for the death of a friend and wrongly took matters into his own hands.
The pursuit ended up in a west Mitchell neighborhood, where 13 shots were fired by Velazquez, hitting a house and multiple vehicles.
During the sentencing, Judge Giles said it was fortunate that they were not at a sentencing for a homicide.
(Billy Lurken, KMIT, contributed this report.)
