Paralyzed HS Basketball Star's Shooter Sentenced To 17 Years

PROSPECT LEFFERTS GARDENS — The discovery of a gun helped close the book on a 2016 Brooklyn shooting that left former high school basketball star paralyzed from the waist down, authorities said.

Police tied the gun to James Sanders, 35, who on Wednesday received a 17-year prison sentence for attempted murder, according to the Brooklyn district attorney's office.

The hearing ends a criminal case that began early Dec. 4, 2016, when Jaquan Causer walked to his home in Prospect Lefferts Gardens, authorities said. Causer was a high school basketball star attending Fryeburg Academy, a boarding school in Maine, according to the district attorney's office.

He crossed paths with Sanders near Lefferts and Bedford avenues.

Sanders, who was arguing with another man, turned his attention to Causer after Causer glanced in his direction, authorities said. He yelled at Causer — who ignored him and walked away — before following him and shooting him in the back, according to a release.

“Without any provocation or warning, this defendant opened fire on a defenseless and innocent passerby, forever altering the life of a gifted athlete," said Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez in a statement.

Causer called 911 and went to a local hospital where doctors found he was paralyzed. He is now 23.

A grand jury charged Sanders in 2017, according to court records. A year and a half after the shooting found the gun Sanders used at the home of someone he knew, according to the release. They matched it ballistically to shell casings at the shooting scene, the release states.

Sanders is from Parkchester, in the Bronx. Causer couldn't be reached for comment.

"I hope today’s sentence brings some measure of closure to the victim and his family for the enduring harm they have suffered and continue to suffer," Gonzalez wrote in a statement.