Sarasota Man Gets 10 Years In Confederate Flag-Related Shooting
By Anthony Cormier
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
SARASOTA — A former Sarasota Military Academy student has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for shooting a teenager who taunted him with a Confederate flag.
Michael Jordan Mitchell, 19, has pleaded no contest to aggravated battery in the April 2009 shooting of a teen outside the downtown movie theater.
Daniel Azeff, now 19, waved a Confederate flag from the back of his vehicle as he drove down Main Street, leading to a confrontation with Mitchell.
Azeff and a friend yelled “racially disparaging comments” and continued to wave the flag as they parked on Links Avenue, authorities said.
Two teenage girls who were with Mitchell say they asked him to walk away. But Mitchell shot Azeff in the chest with a .22-caliber pistol before running off.
He was captured a short time later.
According to the plea agreement, Mitchell, who did not have a criminal record, will spend 10 years in state prison followed by five years on probation.
Azeff, who was hospitalized after the shooting, has recovered.
Copyright © 2010 HeraldTribune.com
On The web: http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20100728/BREAKING/100729712/2055/NEWS
