A Warren High School ninth-grader who pulled the trigger in a plot to kill his best friend's father was sentenced to 30 years in prison Friday as part of a plea agreement.

Brice Vandergrift, 16, was accompanied by his father and uncle at the Juvenile Detention Center. He stood silently, dressed in a red shirt and khaki pants, with his hands clasped nervously behind his back as District Judge Lisa Jarrett told him she “found beyond a reasonable doubt that you are guilty of murder.”

Vandergrift had been free on $200,000 bail since July 2. Jarrett added a $2,000 fine to the sentence and gave him credit for 185 days served at the Bexar County Detention Center and Juvenile Detention Center. He will be eligible for parole in 15 years, according to his attorney's office.

Vandergrift fired the fatal shots that killed Fred Cantu, 39, on Dec. 31 as Cantu slept. The victim's son, Nicholas, 15, wanted his father killed because he was upset over restrictions on his social life, investigators said.

Both teens were arrested hours after the shooting and confessed to planning the murder over several months.

Their plea agreements came after Vandergrift and Cantu were certified to stand trial as adults, making them eligible for sentences of up to life in prison. Last month, Nicholas Cantu was sentenced to 30 years.

Vandergrift's father said nothing as sheriff's deputies handcuffed his son minutes after Jarrett delivered the sentence. Several of the victim's relatives wept as Melinda Castilleja, Fred Cantu's sister, tearfully delivered a final statement to Vandergrift.

“You don't know that you took a good man away. Maybe our kids, we give them too much, like expensive clothes, a cell phone, etc. That's still not enough for you all,” she told him. “You hurt lots of people.”

“Just think how lost you'd be without your father,” Castilleja said, her voice breaking. “You don't know the pain (Nicholas Cantu's brother) is going through and will go through for the rest of his life without a father.”

Vandergrift, who looked at the floor during Castilleja's testimony, briefly glanced at his attorney before deputies escorted him out. His uncle declined to comment afterward.