Dean-turned-dealer gets up to 26 years for maiming student

BOSTON (AP):

A former high-school dean and anti-violence advocate nicknamed 'Rev' for his pastor-like influence was sentenced yesterday to up to 26 years in prison for shooting and nearly killing a student he had recruited to sell marijuana for him.

Shaun Harrison, 58, was sentenced a day after a Suffolk Superior Court jury convicted him of armed assault with intent to murder and other charges.

Harrison, a dean at Boston English High School, recruited 17-year-old Luis Rodriguez to sell marijuana for him at the school and shot him on March 3, 2015, because he believed the student was not generating enough sales and withholding money, prosecutors said. Harrison joined the school as a dean a few months before the shooting and was fired afterwards.

Rodriguez sat in the back of the courtroom and cried quietly along with his family as his aunt took the stand to describe the pain of almost losing him.

"If [Harrison] has the opportunity, I believe from the bottom of my heart he would abuse his power and do this again," Diana Rodriguez said. "May God forgive you, Sir, because we will not," she said.

Rodriguez, now 20, testified during the trial that he came from a dysfunctional family and trusted Harrison.

"He was my counsellor. I went to him for everything," Rodriguez said.

On the day of the shooting, the pair arranged to meet at a gas station where Harrison was supposed to hand over some drugs.

Harrison shot the student in the back of the head and fled on foot, prosecutors said. The bullet entered Rodriguez's head just under his right ear. It just missed his carotid artery, broke his jawbone, and caused nerve damage and hearing loss.

Rodriguez said he was saved by occupants of a passing car who called 911.