Suspect convicted in shootout outside soccer game that led to police shooting of girl

MEDIA, Pa. (AP) – A man who was 15 when he was involved in a shootout outside a high school football game that set off a chain of events that ended in the death of an 8-year-old girl in Sharon Hill has been sentenced to 14 to 28 years in prison.

Nineteen-year-old Angelo Ford was convicted Friday in Delaware County of several counts including attempted murder, aggravated assault and related convictions stemming from the 2021 gunfire in Sharon Hill that ultimately led to Fanta Bility’s death.

Prosecutors said Ford and a group of other men got into an argument as they left an Academy Park High School football game in August 2021. Ford, then 15, pulled out a gun and exchanged gunfire with a 21-year-old man about a block from the stadium, shooting five times while the other person shot twice, authorities said.

Authorities said two shots were fired in the direction of three Sharon Hill police officers who were monitoring the crowd leaving the game. The officers returned fire at a car they believed was involved, and one of the bullets struck Bility, who was leaving the game with her family, authorities said.

“No lives were lost that night if AJ Ford didn’t bring a gun,” said Deputy District Attorney Laurie Moore. ‘Fanta would still be here. She would be eleven years old.”

Moore asked for a prison sentence of 32 to 67 years, citing the trauma to the child’s family and community. She also said Ford had never shown an ounce of remorse, fled a juvenile facility after his arrest and evaded police for more than a year while posting Instagram videos of himself taunting his pursuers and brandishing weapons.

“He has not accepted responsibility for his actions,” Moore said. “He never thought of anyone else in the history of this case other than AJ Ford.”

The other person involved in the shooting was sentenced to 32 to 64 months in prison. The three officers were fired and later pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges. They were sentenced last year to five years’ probation, the first eleven months of which were house arrest.

Attorney Mary Beth Welch asked for leniency for Ford and argued for a sentence similar to that of the other shooting suspect. She said her client had struggled with a traumatic childhood, behavioral disorders and learning difficulties and eventually fell under the influence of a street gang that led to arrests before the shooting.

“You don’t have to punish him anymore,” Welch said. “A long sentence will break him, and this charge will be a life sentence. He needs a chance to start over.”

Ford read a brief statement apologizing to the victims, their families and his own family. He said the case “took away my childhood, I don’t want it to take away my life.”

Judge G. Michael Green said Friday that he did not blame Ford for the child’s death, but that the defendant “played a significant role” in shooting into the busy street. Ford’s sentence included the shooting as well as assault, terroristic threats, weapons and other charges filed against him while he was in the county jail.

Green said he believed Ford could be rehabilitated and his statement was a “great start,” but the severity of his actions outside the stadium and afterward warranted a lengthy sentence. Ford was given credit time for approximately two years he had already served.