A man who inexplicably shot an 11-year-old boy in the back as he climbed a tree next to his Gresham apartment complex and then the next day shot a police officer in the elbow was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison Friday.

Michael Lee Hart, 45, shot both victims with an air pellet rifle from an open window in the fifth-wheel trailer that he lived in next to the apartments on April 24 and April 25.

The pellet tore through Elijah Burnett-Cruz’s muscle tissue and is still lodged in his kidney because doctors fear it would too much damage if they attempted to remove it. The boy’s mother, Echo Burnett, said her elder son had been playing in the tree with his 6-year-old brother and had just switched positions with the younger child when Elijah was shot out of the tree.

Burnett said her son sometimes calls her or his dad to pick him up from school because his side and back are aching, and he has struggled to deal with anger.

“One question he’s always asked me ever since lying on the ground and rolling around in excruciating pain is ‘Why me, Mom?’” Burnett said. “...Unfortunately, I will never have the answer for that.”

4 Michael Lee Hart sentenced for random shootings with air pellet rifle

Deputy District Attorney Nicole Hermann said the boy is now left to deal with the fear of wondering what will happen to him if he goes outside to play again.

“There was nothing he was doing that day other than climbing a tree when this happened to him, and he ended up in the hospital with a lot of pain for quite some time,” Hermann said.

Cameron Katzenmeyer, the Gresham police officer that Hart also shot, couldn’t attend Friday’s hearing because he was working, Hermann said.

Hermann said that like Elijah and his family, Katzenmeyer “also felt like this was a completely unprovoked, unnecessary act.”

Shortly before midnight on April 25, Katzenmeyer had pulled over a driver for a traffic stop next to the apartment complex in the 800 block of Southeast 187th Avenue. He heard a loud pop, then realized he suffered a wound to his elbow. Because the pellet came to a rest near a nerve in Katzenmeyer’s arm, doctors warned against removing it and so it still remains lodged there today, investigators said.

The tree where the boy was hit was seven yards from where the officer was hit, according to a probable cause affidavit. That helped police determine the point from which the shots were fired. They soon zeroed in on Hart’s trailer.

Police found an open window in the trailer, and it was covered by a screen that had several pellet-sized holes in it, according to the affidavit. Police also found a .177-caliber air pellet rifle and a black powder revolver in the trailer.

In November, Hart pleaded no contest to third-degree assault and being a felon in possession of a firearm, for possessing the revolver. His criminal history stretches back to his teen years, and includes convictions for unlawful use of a weapon, menacing and third-degree rape.

As part of a plea agreement, Multnomah County Circuit Judge Christopher Marshall sentenced Hart to three years of post-prison supervision, in addition to the prison time.

At the time of his arrest, Hart had told jail officials that he had been diagnosed with a mental illness, but he didn’t specify what it was.

On Friday, Hart’s defense attorney, Jon Martz, said he thinks his client “can move forward in a positive way” if he gets mental health treatment. After the hearing, Martz said it’s unclear if Hart will receive the treatment he needs because that is up to the post-prison supervision system.

Hart declined to make any statements during the hearing.

Burnett, the mother of the boy who was shot, says her son is still dealing with the aftermath of becoming a random crime victim. He has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety disorder, and is receiving counseling, Burnett said.

Burnett said she believes Hart is getting off easy.

“Mr. Hart should feel like he is wrapped tight with blessings today considering the small little mini prison sentence that he’s receiving after shooting a police officer and my little boy out of a tree,” Burnett said. “I feel anger on top of anger.”

-- Aimee Green

agreen@oregonian.com

o_aimee

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