September 12, 2023
JERSEY SPORTS ZONE/YOUTUBE
Alvin Wyatt was sentenced to 70 years in prison for his role in a 2019 shooting at a Pleasantville High School football game that killed 10-year-old bystander Micah Tennant, according to the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office. Above, the scene after the shooting.
The gunman who killed a 10-year-old and injured two other people when he opened fire at a Pleasantville High School football game in 2019 was sentenced to 70 years in prison.
Alvin Wyatt, 35, of Atlantic City, was ordered to prison on Monday and must serve at least 85% of his sentence before he is eligible for parole. In July, a jury convicted Wyatt of murder, two counts of attempted murder and unlawful possession of a handgun, among other charges.
On Nov. 15, 2019, Wyatt fired eight times into the bleachers during the third quarter of a crowded playoff football game between Pleasantville High School and visiting Camden High School, according to prosecutors.
Micah Tennant, 10, was struck in the neck by gunfire and died five days later. Two others — an unnamed 15-year-old and 31-year-old Ibn Abdullah — were also injured in the shooting.
Abdullah, who has been wheelchair-bound since the shooting, was Wyatt's intended target, the Press of Atlantic City reported. Wyatt was apprehended by Pleasantville police officers while trying to flee the game.
Atlantic City Man Sentenced to 70 Years in Prison for Pleasantville High School Football Game Shooting that Killed 10-Year-Old Bystander https://t.co/rsoYoY8ngH via @LinkedIn
— ACPO (@ACProsecutor) September 12, 2023
Four other people left the scene in a car and were pulled over and arrested. In 2020, Tyrell Dorn was sentenced to seven years in prison for possession of a weapon by a convicted person. He is at a state prison in Cumberland County and will be eligible for parole next year. Shaheed Dixon was sentenced in 2020 for eluding and released from prison last year. Charges against the other two were dropped, the Press of Atlantic City reported.
The football game — which devolved into chaos as spectators and players attempted to flee after shots rang out — was postponed. It was completed at Lincoln Financial Field at a later date following an invitation from the Philadelphia Eagles.
Tennant, who was a student at Uptown Complex School in Atlantic City and played football for the Atlantic City Dolphins youth team, was honored by the town in 2020 with a park named in his honor.
The boy's family filed civil suits after his death, including one case that accuses school officials of poor safety preparations. At a hearing last month, that case was given a discovery deadline extension of March 1, 2024.
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