A 22-year-old Ypsilanti Township man was sentenced yesterday to 17 to 40 years in prison for a 2023 shooting that killed two people and injured two others. Tamar Young’s sentence closes the case’s main courtroom chapter, but the damage reaches into two families that lost young loved ones and watched others survive gunfire.
Young pleaded no contest in June to two counts of second-degree murder, according to MLive. He received credit for 1,127 days already served, while prosecutors had also charged him with discharging a firearm in or at a building causing death, assault with intent to murder and carrying a firearm to commit a felony.
The shooting unfolded June 26, 2023, in the 800 block of George Place. Dallas Williams, 16, and Tyrese Burks, 20, were killed, while Carter Williams, 14, and Travis Williams, 19, were injured, according to ClickOnDetroit.
Three of the victims were brothers, and officials said Young fired at people inside a car. Young was 19 at the time and was arrested three days later by the U.S. Marshals Detroit Fugitive Apprehension Team, CBS News Detroit reported.
What The 17-To-40-Year Sentence Means
Michigan law allows a second-degree murder conviction to carry life in prison or any term of years, according to the Michigan Legislature. Young’s sentence is an indeterminate term, meaning 17 years is the minimum and 40 years is the maximum.
The minimum is not an automatic release date. The Michigan Department of Corrections says the Parole Board may consider a prisoner after the minimum term, but parole is discretionary and depends on a finding that the person no longer poses a public-safety risk.
With 1,127 days of credit already applied, Young’s sentence now carries a formal accounting of time served alongside a maximum that could keep him in prison for decades. For the families of Dallas Williams and Tyrese Burks, and for the surviving Williams brothers, Thursday’s hearing delivered a legal conclusion to a tragedy that began with four young people caught in Ypsilanti Township gunfire.
