Samuel Young Sentenced To 120 Days In Jail After Shooting Protesters During Elijah McClain Protest On I-225
AURORA, Colo. (CBS4)- A 24-year-old man convicted of assault, attempted manslaughter and illegally discharging his gun for shooting two demonstrators during a 2020 protest in Aurora has been sentenced. Samuel Young was sentenced to 120 days in jail for the shooting that happened while he aimed at a Jeep that was headed toward the crowd on Interstate 225.
Young, of Wheat Ridge, committed the crime during a July 25, 2020, Elijah McClain protest on Interstate 225. He was protesting the Aurora Police Department's role in McClain's death.
The judge could have sentenced Young to 6 years in prison.
"You have no criminal history, you're a young person, you are well educated, you have a history of helping others, you are needed at home, and you shot wholly indiscriminately into a crowd of hundreds of people," said the judge in court before reading the sentence.
The Jeep's driver was not criminally charged and told CBS4, through his attorney, he feared for his life and was just trying to escape the crowd blocking the interstate.
CBS4 spotted Young in the crowd with protesters openly carrying a weapon. He opened fire at the Jeep as the driver took off, but injured two other protesters instead.
A witness told police Young "entered a state of shock" and appeared he "was horrified at what he did."
Young will spend another 70 days in jail after getting credit for time served. He will face years of probation.
