60-year prison sentence for carjacker who killed high school coach in Missouri

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A St. Louis man was sentenced Wednesday to 60 years in prison for a series of carjackings, including one in which a high school football coach was killed.

U.S. District Judge Ronnie L. White handed down the sentence for 31-year-old Kurt Wallace, who pleaded guilty in September to four counts of carjacking, one count of discharging a firearm in furtherance of carjacking resulting in death, and other crimes.

Federal prosecutors said Wallace shot three victims during three carjackings in 2017 that were set up through a dating app. One victim was shot in the shoulder on Sept. 16. Another was shot in the leg on Oct. 15. Both survived.

Jaz Granderson was fatally shot on Oct. 16, 2017, while his Jeep Grand Cherokee was being stolen. Granderson was an assistant football coach at De Smet Jesuit High School in suburban St. Louis. He played at Northern Iowa from 2009 to 2011.

Wallace was named in a federal indictment in November 2017. He was jailed awaiting trial when he escaped in July 2019, prosecutors said. He was captured after carjacking a vehicle and crashing during a police chase.

Six others accused in connection with the carjackings were previously convicted and are serving sentences ranging from five years to life in prison.