Former Basketball Star Sentenced 15 Years For Sheepshead Bay Shooting

Former Thomas Jefferson High School basketball star, Davontay Grace, was sentenced to 15 years in prison today for the shooting of his former friend and basketball rival in Sheepshead Bay, Dexter Hopkins, according to Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson.

Grace, 24, shot Hopkins, also 24, in the chest during a conversation in a courtyard on Batchelder Street around 12:30pm on January 23, 2015. He then fired five additional shots at Hopkins while he laid on the ground. He was convicted of first-degree assault and criminal possession of a weapon earlier this month.

“This defendant chose to repeatedly shoot a former friend, even as the victim lay helpless on the ground, for no reason, leaving him with permanent injuries,” said DA Thompson. “The sentence imposed today reflects the seriousness of the crime.”

Grace and Hopkins played each other in basketball when they were in high school. They later attended a prep school in Georgia where they roomed together, but they hadn’t seen each other for months prior to the shooting. It still remains unclear what led to the nearly-fatal attack, prosecutors said.

At the time of the shooting, Hopkins was in college. He still has a bullet lodged in his knee. Grace was set to play basketball for Manhattan College.