Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Patricia Schnegg sentenced 22-year-old Signal Hill resident Tyson Tyree Smith to 25 years in state prison after pleading no contest to the shooting of USC students Jason Sneed and Christina Wilkerson on September 4 of last year.
The shooting occurred at around 1AM near the 1200 block of West 37th Place in Exposition Park after Smith and three other men entered a USC student-attended house party being held off-campus. According to prosecutors, Smith withdrew a .25-caliber automatic pistol and fired after being confronted for taking a pair of headphones from the person hosting the party. The shot passed through the hand of Wilkerson and into the chest of Sneed. Sneed was hospitalized for eleven days.
Smith’s sentence—part of a plea bargain—included a charge of attempted murder while dismissing a second attempted murder charge and two counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm.