Robreon Lee was 16 when he drove a stolen car past a bus stop and a backseat passenger shot two Westside High students near the corner of Virginia Avenue and Storey Drive on Aug. 24, 2011.

The 6:40 a.m. shooting stemmed from gang retaliation, back and forth between the Bloomfield and YSG street gangs. There had been a shooting the night before, in the Bloomfield area, when Lee and some other teens exchanged shots with another group of people, said Sandra Matson, a Bibb County prosecutor.

Lee, now 18, pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated assault Wednesday during a hearing in Bibb County Superior Court.

In exchange for his plea, prosecutors dismissed a murder charge levied against him in the shooting death of 16-year-old Arquentris Fountain outside a ballroom at 3670 Eisenhower Parkway on Aug. 27, 2011. Two other teenagers were injured in the shooting.

During Wednesday’s hearing, the judge followed a joint recommendation from the prosecution and defense.

He sentenced Lee to five years in prison and 10 years on probation. The 18 months Lee has already served in jail while awaiting trial will be counted toward his five years.

Matson said the witnesses and surviving victims from the Eisenhower Parkway case have not cooperated with authorities, tying prosecutors’ hands.

“There’s only so much we can do,” said District Attorney David Cooke.

Cooke said he doesn’t think prosecutors could prove the murder case “without truthful testimony from the eyewitnesses.”

In the bus stop shooting, Matson said the shooter pointed a gun at a third teenager, but the gun jammed. That teenager has refused to help police.

Cooke said his office will aggressively prosecute crimes, but “if the witnesses and victims don’t cooperate, we can’t get the full measure of justice.”

The cases against the other teens in the car with Lee during the bus stop shooting still are pending.

Information from Telegraph archives was used in this report. To contact writer Amy Leigh Womack, call 744-4398.