Baby-faced teen Noah Ney sentenced to prison for shooting 5-year-old girl as part of gang initiation
A baby-faced Oklahoma teenager who is just 4 feet, 9 inches tall has been sentenced as an adult to more than 50 years in prison for shooting a 5-year-old girl in the neck as part of a shocking gang initiation.
Noah Ney, 16, was convicted of all 10 charges against him — including shooting with intent to kill, firearm possession and drug possession — in connection with the April 2022 drive-by shooting in Tulsa, NewsOn6 reported.
He’d been traveling in a stolen SUV when he opened fire, hitting the 5-year-old girl in the neck and shoulder as she played outside, prosecutors said.
The young victim thankfully survived after being rushed to a local hospital — but prosecutors said she would have died if the bullet had hit a spot just an inch away.
The court heard that the shooting was Ney’s initiation into Tulsa’s Hoover Crips gang, according to the Daily Mail.
“A neighbor testified to Noah causing havoc in the neighborhood by wearing gang colors and carrying guns and knives, and often pulling them on neighbors while threatening them,” Assistant Tulsa County District Attorney Morgan Medders told the court.
After his arrest, the pint-sized gunman — who looks even younger than 16 in his mugshot and weighs a mere 90 pounds, according to records — escaped his Tulsa juvenile detention center in August by jumping a fence while a guard was distracted.
He was assumed armed while on the run and was re-arrested at gunpoint four days later.
During Ney’s sentencing Monday, prosecutors detailed the teenager’s extensive criminal history, which they said encompassed robberies, gun charges and drug-related offenses.
Prosecutors said that during his time at the juvenile detention center, Ney repeatedly assaulted staff, flooded his cell and smeared feces on the walls.
In arguing for a lengthy sentence for Ney, prosecutors maintained that the 16-year-old is dangerous and should be off the streets.
Ney’s defense lawyer countered by claiming that his parents were to blame for his behavior and that he has been denied treatment options.
His aunt testified that her nephew has been neglected his entire life by both his mother and his father, who has been in and out of prison.
The prosecutor stressed that it was no excuse for the danger the diminutive gangbanger posed.
“I have treatment records in a packet that is thicker than a dictionary that show treatment attempts that he rejected, by escaping or assaulting staff that was there to help him get treatment,” Medders said.
Ney will be eligible for a judicial review hearing in five years, when his sentence could be reduced if he is able to convince the judge that he has changed for the better, the court was told.
