Semaj Conway is accused of firing shots outside of a pizzeria and then two weeks later, firing shots into a bodega
TRENTON -Over the course of two weeks in 2014, Semaj Conway fired multiple shots outside of a Trenton pizzeria and riddled a city bodega with gunfire, injuring people in both incidents, police have said.
But at his sentencing on Friday, 20-year-old Conway said that the victims were not his intended targets.
Conway, 20, was sentenced to a ten years in prison for the bodega shooting and five years for the pizzeria incident Friday. The sentences will be served concurrently, Superior Court Judge Peter Warshaw ordered.
The incidents happened in October of 2014 when Conway was 18-years-old. Police have said Conway went to a pizzeria on North Broad Street on Oct. 13, dressed in a hooded sweatshirt and a mask, and got into an argument with a man on the corner. Conway fired shots, which missed the man and hit two other people, police have said.
He wasn't arrested until a few weeks later, after another shooting on Oct. 20. Mercer County prosecutors said Conway, along with Raesean Sutphin, 21, and David Chavies, 20, fired multiple shots into a bodega on the corner of St. Joe's and Girard Avenues around 4 p.m. on a Monday, injuring two people inside.
Sutphin and Chavies were both given 10-year sentences last week for the shooting. A fourth man, Justin Hill, who drove the get away car, is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 15.
Conway was initially charged with attempted murder in both attacks, but they were downgraded to aggravated assault for the bodega shooting and unlawful possession of a weapon for the pizzeria gunfire.
Men sentenced for bodega shooting
During his sentencing, Conway addressed the incidents, saying that he had "stepped out of character" and that the two people injured in the bodega shooting were not his intended targets. He added that he owned a gun to protect himself and that he had lost a loved one in the area recently before the shooting.
"It doesn't sound like self protection to me," Warshaw said in court, adding that the incidents sounded more like retaliation.
Conway's stepfather, who also spoke at his sentencing Friday, lauded his step son with praise, calling him an, "honest, hard working person." He added that Conway frequently checks up on his mother and was elated two years ago when he found out he would be a father.
Before handing down the sentence Friday, Warshaw read a letter from one of the victims in the bodega shooting, who said she was afraid to leave her house.
Warshaw said he was concerned that Conway could commit another shooting and said he had an "absence of self awareness."
Conway will have to serve 85 percent - or eight years and six months - in prison before he is eligible for parole.
Anna Merriman may be reached at amerriman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @anna_merriman