Kalahari shooter sentenced

SANDUSKY — A 19-year-old was sentenced to a year in prison for shooting a gun in the Kalahari parking lot last summer. Toledo resident Evan J. McKinney was sentenced by Judge Roger Binette in front of his family on Thursday afternoon in Erie County Court of Common Pleas. McKinney had pleaded guilty to third-degree felonious assault in January, he was initially indicted on attempted murder. McKinney was caught on surveillance camera shooting a gun off a footbridge into the parking lot at the resort. The shots allegedly were the result of a fight between McKinney and another group inside the arcade. No one was injured in the shooting, although a front lobby window was pierced by a bullet. "Thank God no one was injured," Binette said. "It could have been a tragedy." A large group of supporters came to the sentencing for McKinney, many gave tearful hugs goodbye as he was ushered out of the room after sentencing. "There are very many times I don't see people in support of the defendant," Binette said. "They are here because they love you, and love means being committed to someone in good and bad. It's easy to be there for the good, when things are hard and they still show up, that means they love you." The state was asking for a two-year sentence and McKinney's lawyer was asking for probation. McKinney asked Binette to let him out for his son's birth in the fall. "If it's possible, I just really want to be there for my kid," McKinney said. "To raise him as my father raised me." Binette noted that while McKinney didn't have a prior criminal record and had a job and a plan for his future, he did have non-compliance issues while out on bond. "If it wasn't a wake-up call that night, it should have been," Binette said. "You owe it to take responsibility for yourself and responsibility for the community."