Teen in Brick Memorial payback shooting sentenced to 10 years

BRICK — A teenager who opened fire at a group of Brick Memorial High School students in 2019, causing a lockdown at the building, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Alonzo Legrande, who is 18 now but was arrested and charged as a juvenile, waived his right to have a trial in Family Court and pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose. He initially was charged as a juvenile with attempted murder.

His accomplice, Luis Rivas, who was 16 at the time, also agreed to be charged as an adult on a charge of conspiracy to commit aggravated assault. He was sentenced in October to four years in prison.

Prosecutors say Legrande was with Rivas when Legrande shot at the group of teens walking home from school on Oct. 22, 2019. The wounded teenran back to the high school, a quarter mile away, to call for help. Police received a call about the shooting at 1:45 p.m.

The school was locked down until authorities determined that there was no further danger to the community. The shooting victim survived.

Using residential surveillance cameras, investigators identified the suspects and arrested Legrande a day later.

Investigators believed that the shooting was supposed to be revenge for Legrande's uncle getting shot in a drive-by shooting days earlier in his neighborhood.

During a hearing last year, Rivas denied knowing that his friend was carrying a gun and said he believed they were getting into a fistfight.

A lover's quarrel is believed to have sparked the drive-by shooting Oct. 19 at the Briar Mills housing development. Both Rivas and Legrande were with Legrande's uncle when he was shot, and police said none of them cooperated with investigators.