Alert – Boy, 16, is sentenced to FIFTY years in prison for shooting five-year-old girl in the neck as part of gang initiation – with Tulsa community leaders saying the ‘community is safer with him behind bars’

Terrorized victims of a baby-faced gangster who shot a little girl in the neck have breathed a sigh of relief after the 16-year-old from Oklahoma was jailed for 50 years.

Noah Ney was sentenced as an adult for the 2022 shooting after the court was told he knows the difference between right and wrong but has ‘no amenability to treatment’.

The 4ft 9ins gunman was jailed on Monday, two months after he mounted a daring escape from a Tulsa juvenile detention center where he had assaulted staff, flooded his cell and smeared faeces on the walls.

‘I have treatment records in a packet thicker than a dictionary showing treatment attempts that he rejected, by escaping or assaulting staff that were there to help him,’ said Assistant Tulsa County District Attorney Morgan Medders.

Ney already had a criminal record stretching back to his middle school years when he shot the five-year-old girl in April last year in what the court heard was an initiation into the town’s Hoover Crips gang.

She was playing inside her home in North Rockford Avenue when he drove by in a stolen car and fired a gun at the house, hitting her in the neck and shoulder.

‘There were multiple people in the line of fire during the drive-by shooting,’ Medders told Tulsa District Court.

‘The five-year-old was transported to hospital by EMSA because of the severity of her injuries and a difference of an inch or two in the penetrating gunshot wounds to the child could have resulted in her death.’

Ney was awaiting sentence for the shooting when he and another inmate scaled the fence of the Tulsa County Juvenile Justice Center and went on the run.

But he was arrested at gunpoint three days later outside a convenience store after a tip–off from the public.

‘We came around the corner between us and Tulsa Police Department, got him surrounded, and were able to take him in,’ said Sergeant Scott Streeter of the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office Warrants Unit.

‘I think he thought about running, he turned around but everyone was all sides of him so he laid down on the ground and gave up.’

The court that both Ney’s parents have criminal records, and his father has been repeatedly imprisoned.

Ney’s mother admitted her son shows cruelty to both people and animals but said she blamed herself for her son’s behavior.

His aunt said he had been neglected his whole life, but the court was told that Ney’s behavior had deteriorated during placements with both his aunt and his grandmother.

‘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,’ Medders said.

‘While several extended family members appeared at the certification hearing, those same people have been available to Noah throughout his extensive juvenile history and that did not appear to make a difference.’

Ney was sentenced to 50 years after admitting 12 counts involving firearms, drugs, gangs, theft and assault.

The judge said scheduled a judicial review of his sentence in 2028 where it could be reduced if he demonstrates remorse and reform.

But former neighbors of Ney’s said they were glad to see the back of him.

‘This might be the signal that more of our youth offenders need that if you commit the crime you’ll do the time!’ wrote Ronnie Jo Bingham on Facebook.

‘Is his mother going to be charged with neglect?’ demanded Tauny Knight.

‘Old enough to do adult crimes,’ wrote Debbie McAfee

‘His age shouldn’t be taken into consideration when deciding his sentence.’

‘Play big boy games. Get big boy prizes,’ added Tim Ostin.

Others expressed sympathy for the 90-pound wannabe gangster.

‘Breaks my heart,’ wrote JamiLea Gifford.

‘This little boy played on the same team as my son in elementary. He was so sweet then.’