Teenager who shot Ohio State wrestler Sammy Sasso during a carjacking is sentenced

By OLIVER SALT

The teenager who shot Ohio State wrestler Sammy Sasso back in 2023 was sentenced to at least 10 years in prison on Thursday.

Elijah Lee, 18, pleaded guilty to felonious assault with a three-year firearm specification in Franklin County Common Pleas Court, Columbus, almost two years on from the shocking incident which essentially ended Sasso’s career.

The wrestling hopeful, from Nazareth, Pennsylvania, was shot during a carjacking on North High Street in August 2023 before being found in an alley and taken to the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.

He was forced to go through multiple surgeries, spend multiple days in the hospital and complete months of physical therapy before he was able to wrestle again in November 2024. However, just three months later Sasso made the decision to retire.

Lee, who was 16 at the time, was arrested three weeks after the shooting and carjacking. Police also arrested 15-year-old Casia Mayfield, but prosecutors concluded that the former was the one who pulled the trigger.

Before the sentencing on Thursday, Sasso opened up on how he dedicated his life to becoming a wrestling champion and was ready to come back and fulfil that dream in his senior year before the shooting.

The teenager who shot Ohio State wrestler Sammy Sasso (right) back in 2023 was sentenced to at least 10 years in prison

Elijah Lee, 18, pleaded guilty to felonious assault with a three-year firearm specification

‘My last chance to go accomplish this dream of mine since I had when I was a little kid was taken away,’ he said. 

Lee’s father then launched a passionate defense of his son, insisting he is not a bad person despite the crime he committed. 

‘Elijah loves people,’ he said. ‘Everybody knows Elijah and he’s not a bad person.

‘I know a lot of parents go forth and say that about their kids. I really don’t feel he should go to prison.’

The judge told Lee that his crime and sentencing was inevitable after his previously involvement in multiple cases of stolen vehicles. 

‘That was a pattern that was going to lead to something like this and that’s why you’re before me,’ the judge said. 

Lee will be on post-release control when he gets out of prison. If any violations are made the teen could be sent straight back.  

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Teenager who shot Ohio State wrestler Sammy Sasso during a carjacking is sentenced

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