ALBANY – The 20-year-old man who shot a gun in Crossgates Mall will serve up to the next 16 years in prison.
A jury convicted Tasheem Maeweather of reckless endangerment on May 5. He was sentenced to up to seven years by Judge Roger McDonough in Albany Supreme Court on Friday, June 23.
At trial, Assistant District Attorney Steven Sharp presented the jury with testimony from mall patrons and employees, law enforcement and ballistic and laboratory professionals.
The jury found him innocent of the more serious charge of attempted murder as well as acquitting him of criminal possession of a weapon and attempted assault.
On Nov. 12, 2016 multiple shots were fired near a crowded area of the mall near the Apple Store, near “Santa Land” where multiple families were lined up to take holiday photos. There were thousands of people were at the mall at the time.
“Citizens of Albany County should always expect to be safe when visiting public spaces,” said District Attorney Davie Soares in a statement. “This defendant violated our sense of safety and has left a traumatic and indelible memory for those who were present that day.”
At the time, Maeweather was on felony probation for a 2015 drug conviction and was being monitored by a GPS ankle bracelet. Due to multiple technical violations of the court ordered terms of the probation, Judge Peter Lynch sentenced Maeweather to nine years for the underlying drug conviction.
That sentence will run consecutively to his most recent sentence of seven years.