One of four men charged in the shooting and paralyzing of an African immigrant was convicted of a handgun crime Thursday.
Baltimore County Circuit Judge Patrick Stringer found Rodney Moore, 24, of Windsor Mill, guilty of being a felon in possession of a handgun.
Stringer sentenced Moore to a mandatory five years in prison in connection with the shooting of Herve Massaba, 24, who police said moved to Pikesville looking for a better life.
A college student who hoped to become an electrical engineer, Massaba was walking in the 3700 block of Rolling Road in Windsor Mill July 5 after taking a bus home from his job when four males began chasing him.
They forced him to some bushes between Rolling Road and Valdivia Court, robbed him of his iPod, and when Massaba resisted, they shot him with a handgun once in the upper torso, police said.
The injury left Massaba paralyzed from the chest down, police said.
During a search of Moore?s residence, detectives said they recovered Massaba?s iPod and the handgun used in the shooting.
Moore?s attorney, Andrew Belt, said he planned to appeal the judge?s ruling based on his belief that the handgun found under Moore?s bed was faulty ? and that police firearm experts had to repair the weapon in order to test fire it.
“The gun in the condition it was found was never test fired,” Belt said.
Belt said Moore was not the shooter, but was merely holding the handgun for a friend.
“He did admit to holding that gun for a friend,” said prosecutor John Magee.
Moore was previously convictedof possession with the intent to distribute cocaine in Baltimore City, making it illegal for him to possess a firearm.
Three other suspects — Carlos Fisher, 22, of Gwynn Oak; Derrick Henry Leroy Jacobs, 29, of Randallstown; and Riyan Seth-Jordan Williams, 18, of Pikesville ? are being held at the Baltimore County Detention Center.
