An 18-year-old Colorado Springs man was sentenced Friday to four-and-a-half years in the Youthful Offender System for the 2008 shooting of a man he apparently was trying to rob of drugs and money.

Anthony Moore, who pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the June 30, 2008, killing of Matthew Webb, 22, also received a 12-year prison sentence that will not be imposed unless he fails to complete his stay in the juvenile detention system.

The sentence came after an emotional address to the court by the victim’s parents, Craig and Christy Webb.

Craig Webb told Moore the plea bargain is a chance for him to do something with his life and become a productive member of society.

Prosecutors said Moore, then 17, shot Webb at the Copper Chase Apartments, 2041 Southgate Road.

Webb then drove his car to a 7-Eleven at 1802 S. Nevada Ave., where it crashed. He was found dead in the car.

Investigators said they found a revolver with five spent shell casings in it, a bloody Taser, about $1,200 in cash and a backpack containing marijuana and psilocybin mushrooms.

Moore later showed up at the Penrose Community Hospital with a gunshot wound, which he said was the result of a drive-by shooting.

An alleged accomplice, Steven Tyler Warden, 18, told police Moore approached him about “doing a robbery on a white guy.”

Warden told police Moore told him he was in the car with Webb when the shooting started, saying “the guy shot me, but I shot him too.”

Warden also has been charged in the homicide; his case is pending.

Webb’s parents later told The Gazette they agreed to Moore’s relatively light sentence, in part because they wanted their leniency to act as a memorial to their son.

“There are three young men involved in a tragedy,” Craig Webb said. “Our son died. But it would be more tragic if the other two sacrificed their lives.”

Webb said he and his wife simply don’t understand the “scourge” of drugs or the violence some young people perpetrate on one another.

The Webbs said they also agreed to Moore’s sentence because of their strong religious faith.

“He’s in a better place,” Craig Webb said of his son.

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