Canton Township man pleads guilty to two shootings in city
A Canton Township man who shot two people, including a teenage girl, during separate incidents last year pleaded guilty Tuesday in Washington County Court and was sentenced to prison.
Maceo Saunders, 27, pleaded guilty to attempted homicide and aggravated assault, along with two counts of illegal possession of a firearm and was immediately sentenced by Judge Valarie Costanzo to serve 12½ to 25 years in prison.
Saunders was arrested in September after Washington police charged him in the two separate shootings in the city that seriously injured both victims.
Police said he shot Daniel Becker twice in the 200 block of Ridge Avenue on March 10 that damaged the man’s liver and right arm. Police said several children were nearby when Saunders fired multiple gunshots at Becker, although they were not struck by the bullets.
On May 20, city police said he fired five shots into an occupied vehicle at Shannon and Ridge avenues, striking a 17-year-old girl in the leg and shattering her femur. The driver of the vehicle, Trey Willis of Washington, was believed to be the target of that shooting, but he was not injured.
As part of his plea agreement, Saunders is to have no contact with Becker or the other victim, Treonna Washington, who is now an adult.
In addition to pleading guilty to the two shootings in Washington, Saunders also was sentenced for violating the terms of his probation on a previous drug possession conviction. He has been held at the Washington County jail since his arrest in September, and will be given credit for time served before he’s transferred to a state prison.