Man gets 8 years in prison for shooting outside Wyandanch High

A man who pleaded guilty in October to shooting an unarmed male victim outside Wyandanch Memorial High School last year has been sentenced to eight years in prison, Suffolk District Attorney Ray Tierney’s office said Monday.

According to prosecutors, Nayshawn James, 21, of Wyandanch, got into a verbal altercation while armed with an illegal pistol outside the school on Oct. 29, 2021. James shot multiple times at the victim, prosecutors said. One shot struck the victim in the face. He spent seven weeks in a  hospital while receiving treatment for serious injuries. 

“This defendant opened fire just outside school grounds during a crowded dismissal, striking the victim in the face,” Tierney said. “His actions put dozens of innocent schoolchildren at risk, and it is fortunate that no one else was injured or killed by his wanton acts.”

James' attorney, Brad Leventhal of Huntington Station, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

James pleaded guilty in October to first-degree assault, first-degree criminal use of a firearm and two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. He was sentenced by Suffolk County Judge Steven A. Pilewski.