Gerald "Nana" Gibson today was ordered to spend 21 years in prison for a fatal shooting and a stabbing, as a judge decried the "senseless violence" because of all the city's unregistered guns.Gibson, 18, of Alexander Avenue, Cheektowaga, was sentenced for the fatal shooting of Jermain Martin, 19, last June 7 and his role in the stabbing of another Buffalo teen on a Metro Rail trail last January.As he was being led from court, he yelled out to friends, "Pop, killed it ... Ha!Ha!"
Afterward, defense attorney Michael G. O'Rourke insisted Gibson is "very sorry" for what O'Rourke called the alcohol-fueled shooting of Martin and the Metro Rail stabbing, contending his client "doesn't yet realize the full magnitude" of his crimes.Gibson pleaded guilty to reduced charges in both cases, including first-degree manslaughter in the shooting. He told State Supreme Court Justice Penny M. Wolfgang, "I accept the consequences of my actions and everyone else should do the same."He was captured in Pittsburgh by Buffalo homicide detectives as he was about to board a bus for Las Vegas two weeks after the shooting.On Jan. 21, Wolfgang sentenced Dijon Thomas, 18, a former street gang associate of Gibson's, to 10 years in prison for supplying the handgun Gibson used to kill the Shirley Avenue teenager. Gibson shot Martin at Bailey and Stockbridge avenues about 8 p.m. last June 7.Martin's mother, Rayshonne Stevens, noted that her son was not a gang member, but had gotten into an argument with Gibson and others at her daughter's Sweet 16 birthday party the night before. She told told the judge she hopes Gibson "gets to know the Lord."Thomas, Byron Brown Jr., 20, of Minnesota Avenue -- who is not related to Buffalo's mayor -- and Demario Golston, 19, of no permanent address, all face April 2 sentencings on their attempted assault pleas. Those pleas result from the attack on a rival gang member on a Metro Rail train near the Utica Station about 3:45 p.m Jan. 8, 2008.
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