DENVER — The man who was convicted after shooting at a Jeep as the driver moved through a crowd of protesters on Interstate 225 in Aurora was sentenced to probation on Tuesday.
Samuel Alvin Young, 24, of Wheat Ridge was sentenced to five years probation on Tuesday afternoon. He will need to have monitored sobriety and to pay restitution, the judge said.
Young was ordered to serve 90 days in jail on one count, with a credit of 50 days already served. On a second count, he was ordered to serve another 30 days in jail, bringing the total to 70 days.
He was convicted in late March on two counts of second-degree assault, four counts of attempted manslaughter, and one count of illegal discharge of a firearm.
The charges stem from July 25, 2020, when Young fired at a Jeep driver who was driving through a crowd on I-225, according to an arrest affidavit. The group was protesting the death of Elijah McClain and was walking in the northbound lanes before moving over to the southbound lanes too. Young hit two bystanders — one in the leg and one near their temple. Nobody in the Jeep was injured.
A witness later told police that Young, who was 23 at the time, seemed to be "in a state of shock" after the shooting. He later told police he was the person of interest in the case, and agreed to talk with investigators if he had legal representation. He was arrested on July 27.
The driver of the Jeep was not charged.
According to The Denver Post, during the trial, Young’s public defenders argued Young had acted in the defense of others because the driver of the Jeep was endangering people.