DC man gets 28 years for killing Howard University student

WASHINGTON (AP) — A man who was convicted of fatally shooting a Howard University student in a botched robbery attempt has been sentenced to 28 ½ years in prison.

Twenty-eight-year-old Rasdavid Lagarde was sentenced Friday in Superior Court. He had pleaded guilty second-degree murder and other charges in the death of 22-year-old Omar Sykes.

Prosecutors say on July 4, 2013, Lagarde and another man walked up to Sykes as he and a classmate returned from watching the fireworks on the National Mall. Prosecutors say Lagarde accidentally shot Sykes as he tried to pistol-whip him. The bullet went through Sykes' arm and into his chest, killing him.

Lagarde was arrested three months later, but his accomplice has never been identified.

Sykes was a senior marketing major.

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