Teen sentenced to 10 years for shooting rival’s younger brother

A 19-year-old Elmont, Long Island resident has been sentenced to prison for shooting an 11-year-old boy who answered the door of his Springfield Gardens home. The child was shot in the chest and seriously injured.
“The defendant apparently had an argument with the victim’s older brother and shot the youngster simply because he was the one who answered the door,” said District Attorney Richard A. Brown. “The shooting was totally senseless - and could well have resulted in the child’s death. The prison sentence imposed is more than warranted.”
Michael Peterson, 19, pleaded guilty last month to second-degree attempted murder before Queens Supreme Court Justice Joseph Grosso who imposed the determinate sentence of 10 years in prison.
Brown said that, according to the charges, on Sunday, December 30, 2007, at about 8:30 p.m., Peterson rang the doorbell at the Springfield Gardens home where Tyshaun Falconer, 11, lived with his parents. When the child answered the door there was no one there, but then the defendant suddenly appeared and stated: “Where’s your brother, Tony?”
The victim then saw a bright flash, felt a pain in his chest and ran inside to his parents. He suffered a gunshot wound to the chest and was taken to Long Island Jewish-Schneider Children’s Hospital.