The 16-year-old suspect accused of shooting Ohio State wrestler Sammy Sasso in the stomach during a carjacking had been released from custody less than a week before the crime, according to local reports.
Sasso, a former two-time Pennsylvania state wrestling champion, is currently unable to walk due to severe damage to his spine, according to a GoFundMe campaign set up by his family.
The juvenile had been released from custody of the Ohio Department of Youth Services for an unrelated criminal case five days before Sasso’s shooting, the Columbus Dispatch reported.
OHIO STATE CHAMPION WRESTLER IN SERIOUS CONDITION AFTER BEING SHOT DURING REPORTED ROBBERY
Sammy Sasso wrestling at Xfinity Center on January 31, 2021, in College Park, Maryland. The Ohio State senior was shot during a carjacking last month. (G Fiume/Maryland Terrapins/Getty Images)
He reportedly had bounced around a handful of juvenile facilities this year alone and allegedly had been posting pictures of guns on Instagram two days after his re-release, according to the paper.
The judge ordered him held without bail in the carjacking case. A 15-year-old girl has also been charged in connection with the shooting.
Sasso, a senior and four-time All American, is a high-profile Buckeye but not the only one who has been victimized by violent crime in recent weeks.
Sammy Sasso of the Ohio State Buckeyes celebrates after defeating Beau Bartlett of the Penn State Nittany Lions at Bryce Jordan Center on February 4, 2022, in State College, Pennsylvania. (Bryan Bennett/Getty Images)
School leaders on Wednesday morning issued a warning to students and staff after two men jumped out of a packed car with a gun and robbed an unidentified undergrad right outside his dorm building.
COLLEGE STUDENT ROBBED AT GUNPOINT OUTSIDE DORM
Last month, a student named Kyle Walker spent a week in the intensive-care unit for two skull fractures and a brain bleed after coming home from a bar, according to a GoFundMe campaign set up to cover his medical bills.
A railroad conductor discovered him left for dead near the train tracks and called 911, according to The Lantern, a school newspaper.
Ohio State students walk across the Oval between classes. (Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch/Imagn)
In the Midwest, another Big Ten school also suffered a shocking crime over the weekend – a 20-year-old female University of Wisconsin-Madison student suffered life-threatening injuries in a brutal sex assault, police there said.
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Sasso qualified for the NCAA Tournament four times and went 12-4 in his career at the tournament. He lost the 149-pound final to Cornell’s Yianni Diakomihalis, now a four-time NCAA champion.
Fox News’ Ryan Morik and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
