He shot into a crowd of Eagles fans celebrating the NFC championship. On Thursday, a judge sentenced him to prison.
Amere Wright, 20, was sentenced to 3 1/2 to 9 years in prison for the shooting, which seriously injured a 20-year-old man.
A Philadelphia man who fired into a crowd of Eagles fans celebrating the team’s NFC championship game victory last year, seriously injuring a 20-year-old man, was sentenced to 3½ to 9 years in prison on Thursday.
Amere Wright, 20, was 18 when he opened fire on Jan. 26, 2025, in Center City as hundreds of people gathered to revel in the Eagles’ win over the Washington Commanders.
It was supposed to be a night “filled with joy,” prosecutor Mackenzie McGeehan said Thursday. Instead, a scuffle broke out on the 1300 block of Chestnut Street, and Wright, who was not involved in the altercation, pulled out an illegal handgun and fired into the crowd, McGeehan said.
The bullets struck the 20-year-old in the abdomen and hip, causing injuries that required a four-day hospital stay, the prosecutor said.
Wright pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and illegal firearms charges in August. Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Chesley Lightsey sentenced him Thursday after hearing arguments from McGeehan and Wright’s attorney, Michael McDermott, as well as an apology from Wright.
Wright told the judge he had overreacted when he drew and fired his weapon and said he regretted it.
“I know there were a thousand different options — a thousand different scenarios — that I could have chosen, and I chose the wrong one,” he told the judge.
He added: “When I was young, I thought carrying guns was the coolest thing to do, but it’s not.”
Lightsey said she had been moved by Wright’s words and had imposed a sentence that recognized he was “young and maturing.”
At the same time, she encouraged Wright to continue anger-management treatment, which he said he had begun while in jail awaiting the resolution of his case.
“I can tell you mean what you say,” Lightsey told Wright. “Some guys come in here and I don’t believe them.”
But, she added, “you’re lucky he [the victim] didn’t die, because you’d be facing life in prison.”
