It started with an argument over a water bill four years ago.
Things escalated quickly and ended with two women lying dead at Deandre Bell’s feet. One of them was his sister.
Now, Bell will spend nine more years behind bars.
Bell took responsibility for the deaths of his sister, Meshala Pabai, 31, and Aubrianna Lancaster, 30, during his sentencing Thursday in Milwaukee County Circuit Court.
He also apologized to his family and Lancaster’s, saying what happened that night “hurts me more than you know.”
Melanie Bell wasn’t sympathetic. She still harbors hard feelings toward her brother and expressed the fear that she also could have been a victim had she been there that night.
“It shouldn’t have happened,” Melanie Bell said. “I can’t forgive you for that. These were innocent women … with no weapons.”
Why wasn’t Deandre Bell given a longer prison sentence?
Bell, 36, initially was charged with two counts of first-degree reckless homicide and faced up to 120 years in prison, if convicted by a jury. He pleaded guilty in December to amended charges of homicide by negligent handling of a dangerous weapon and second-degree reckless homicide.