56°F
weather icon Mostly Clear

Teen sentenced in shooting that killed man, injured 2-year-old

A 16-year-old was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole on Wednesday for a shooting last year that left a man dead and his 2-year-old daughter injured.

Keshaughn Robinson pleaded guilty to a second-degree murder charge in March, court records show. In July, Robinson, a 19-year-old and two other minors fell off of a wall separating properties near Flamingo Road and Boulder Highway and into the backyard of 48-year-old Rodney Saltzman, according to a Metropolitan Police Department arrest report.

Saltzman walked into his backyard while holding his 2-year-old daughter and confronted Robinson, grabbing the hood of the teenager’s sweatshirt, the report said. Once Saltzman let go and turned around, Robinson shot the man multiple times, also striking the girl’s foot.

“What Mr. Robinson did is absolutely horrific,” Chief Deputy District Attorney John Giordani said during a sentencing hearing on Wednesday. “I don’t know how you come back from that kind of conduct, especially at such a young age.”

District Judge Michelle Leavitt sentenced Robinson to life in prison, but he will have the chance to be released on parole in 12 and a half years.

Robinson declined to give a statement during the sentencing hearing, but his defense attorney, Jack Buchanan, said the teen has expressed “extreme remorse.”

“Ultimately, we think the negotiation reflects his horrible decision that day,” Buchanan said.

Saltzman’s wife, Jennifer Saltzman, said her husband was “so happy to be a father.” Their daughter turned 2 years old less than two weeks before Rodney Saltzman was killed, she said.

She said her daughter still wakes up crying in the middle of the night, and the two have had to move out of the house where her husband was shot.

“I hope Mr. Robinson never forgets how his actions took such a great man, son, husband and father,” she said.

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.

Don't miss the big stories. Like us on Facebook.
THE LATEST