On Tuesday, a Brooklyn, N.Y., man was sentenced to 23 years in prison for shooting to death another man after an argument over a hairweave turned into a full-scale brawl, the New York Daily News reports.
Dennzel Holder, 21, was convicted of manslaughter in the shooting death of 27-year-old Shawn Williams during the 2011 melee.
"It started with a group of women who had a foolish argument over a hairweave," the trial judge, New York Supreme Court Justice Alan Marrus, said. "What a senseless tragedy."
According to the Daily News, the incident started after a group of women made a comment about the hair extensions worn by Williams' girlfriend. She took offense. Bottles and punches were thrown, and one of the women in the instigating group summoned her boyfriend Holder, who ended up shooting Williams three times, killing him.
"Mr. Holder had left a hole in my heart," Williams' mother, Dierdra Haynes, told the judge.
"I can't imagine how you feel," Holder told Williams' family at sentencing. "I'd like to express my sincere apologies for your loss."
The 23-year prison sentence is just two years shy of the maximum penalty. With credit for good behavior and time served, Holder could be out in 17 years, the Daily News reports.
"He still got a chance to live," Williams' father, Leonard Saunders, told the newspaper outside the courtroom. "He has a chance to have a life after [prison]. It's not fair."
Read more at the New York Daily News.