Tennessee man sentenced to 76 years for killing 2 at high school basketball game

HUMBOLDT, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee man has been sentenced to 76 years in prison for killing two men and wounding a third in a shooting at a high school basketball game more than three years ago.

Jadon Hardiman, 21, was sentenced Monday after he was convicted in November of charges including second-degree murder, attempted murder, aggravated assault and weapons offenses, Gibson County district attorney Frederick Agee said in a statement.

Hardiman, then 18, attended a basketball game between Humboldt and North Side high schools on Nov. 30, 2021.

He entered the gymnasium’s crowded concession area and pulled a semi-automatic .40 caliber handgun, prosecutors said. He fired three shots at Justin Pankey, a 21-year-old former Humboldt basketball player.

Pankey was hit one time and died within seconds, Agee said. A second bullet hit Xavier Clifton, a former North Side student and basketball player, who was standing in the concession line. Clifton was shot in the neck and paralyzed. He died in March 2022.

A third shot struck another man in the back of the head. He survived. Video footage showed people fleeing into the gym, into bathrooms, and other areas of the school.