PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — An 18-year-old has been sentenced to 23 1/2 to 47 years behind bars for his role in the killing of a 15-year-old girl in West Philadelphia , and the attempted murder of eight others in four separate shootings.
Malachi Johnson was 15 years old when he shot nine people, killing one — 15-year-old Embaba Mengesteabe. She was inside a car at the gas station with her brother in February of 2021, when both were shot in their heads. Her brother survived.
The victim’s uncle told the judge by translator the teen was a “bright light in the world,” academically gifted with the hope of becoming a doctor.
Prosecutors say the siblings and their mother fled a tumultuous life in Ethiopia more than a decade earlier, only to be placed in Southwest Philadelphia knowing no one, and with very few resources. But the family made a life.
Prosecutors told the judge that the defendant was involved in about a half dozen infractions while in custody, and had bragged about all of the shootings — including the killing — online and in rap videos.