December 13, 2022
LAS VEGAS, NV—An African-American man was sentenced Monday to seven-to-18 years in state prison for shooting a waiter multiple times during a botched robbery at a restaurant after-hours in the Chinatown district of Las Vegas last year.
Rashawn Gaston-Anderson, 24, sat quietly in court during sentencing.
“His criminal behavior is very inhuman and he tried to murder me,” Chengyan Wang, the former waiter told the judge.
Gaston-Anderson pleaded guilty in November to felony mayhem and attempted robbery with a weapon. He avoided trial under a plea deal that may also lead to a dismissal of three other criminal cases against him, according to the Associated Press.
Speaking through an interpreter, Wang told The Las Vegas Review-Journal after the hearing that he is still receiving physical therapy after getting shot over 11 times and is unable to return to work.
Wang took four rounds to the abdomen, one to the shoulder, another through the neck, and one to the hand.
Wang moved to Las Vegas from China just a few months before the robbery. He was just mopping the floor early December 20, 2021, when he was confronted by a Gaston-Anderson who entered the restaurant through an unlocked back door and demanded money.
Gaston-Anderson was arrested on December 27, 2021, at a Las Vegas mental health facility.
Authorities say they found no evidence of a hate crime and were unable to prove Gaston-Anderson specifically shot Wang because he is Asian.
Gaston-Anderson is a repeat offender and was arrested multiple times weeks before the Chinatown robbery.
Feature Screenshots via Metro CBS