GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A man will spend decades in prison for shooting and killing a teenage girl who was riding a scooter in downtown Grand Rapids.

Josiah Tyree Pittman was sentenced Wednesday to 25 to 50 years in prison for second-degree murder. He will also serve a consecutive two-year sentence for felony firearm, with credit for nearly a year already served.

In August, Pittman pleaded guilty to the charges in the death of 15-year-old La-kyijah Williams.

"She brought light into every room she entered," Shaqueta Mathison, La-kyijah's mother, told the court Wednesday. "The emotional toll is beyond words. A part of my peace, my purpose and my joy was taken from me."

"I'm aware that I can never give her mother and her father their daughter back or put an end to the suffering I hav

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