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WILKES-BARRE — A man from Wilkes-Barre was sentenced to up to three years in state prison for a shooting in an area where children were playing at Emunah Manor Apartments earlier this year.

Anthony Deandre Alston, 18, of North Hancock Street, was arrested by Wilkes-Barre police as he fled the area of 145 N. Sherman St., where he was accused of firing multiple rounds from a .380-caliber Bersa Thunder handgun on May 23, according to court records.

Alston was apprehended as he crawled through a hole in a fence separating Emunah Manor apartments and the Sherman Hills Apartment complex, court records say.

Several adults told police they were watching their children play in a courtyard when they spotted three men wearing all black clothing and ski masks approach in a suspicious manner.

As the adults were telling the children to get inside an apartment, gunfire erupted, endangering the children, police alleged.

Two other men involved in the shooting with Alston managed to elude capture.

Alston appeared before Luzerne County Judge David W. Lupas, who sentenced him to 18 months to three years in state prison on charges of aggravated assault and firearms not to be carried without a license on Tuesday. Alston pleaded guilty to the charges Oct. 6.

Prosecutors withdrew charges of discharge of a firearm into an occupied structure and reckless endangerment against Alston.

Police in court records say the handgun found on Alston when he was arrested was loaded with five rounds and a misfire round in the chamber.