A Harrisburg man fatally shot a teen riding his stolen bike. He’ll spend decades in prison

A Harrisburg man convicted of killing a teenager he wrongly thought stole his motorbike learned Monday morning he will spend around a quarter of a decade in prison.
Miguel Sliger-Rivera, 38, fatally shot 17-year-old Tay’Andre Warren on November 26, 2022. Warren was riding the motorbike stolen from Sliger-Rivera, who followed the sounds of it until he came upon the teen.
Dauphin County Judge Scott A. Evans sentenced Sliger-Rivera to 26 to 52 years in prison for the fatal shooting.
As Warren was riding up Third Street in Harrisburg, he drove directly into Sliger-Rivera’s field of view, prosecutors said at trial. That’s when Sliger-Rivera opened fire, killing Warren with one bullet, according to Jack Canavan, a Dauphin County prosecutor assigned to the case.
“The sentence was very appropriate given the tragic nature of the crime,” Canavan said.
Prosecutors had sought a first-degree murder conviction, which carries with it a mandatory life sentence in prison, saying Sliger-Rivera had tracked the boy down by following the sound of the bike.
However, jurors only convicted Sliger-Rivera of third-degree murder, deciding it was a crime of passion.
Warren didn’t know the bike was stolen. A friend simply offered him a chance to ride it and he accepted, Dauphin County Senior Deputy District Attorney Jack Canavan said.
The prosecution’s case hinged on testimony from Luis Santiago, that garage’s owner, who said Sliger-Rivera went to the garage the night of the shooting while carrying a gun and bragged about killing a kid, Canavan said.
Santiago then said Sliger-Rivera stripped parts off the bike and washed the blood from it, according to Canavan.
At trial, Shane Kope — Sliger-Rivera’s attorney — argued most of the evidence against his client was circumstantial. However, he failed to address the fact that cell towers placed Sliger-Rivera’s phone on the night of the shooting at Sliger-Rivera’s home, the scene of the crime, then at Santiago’s bike shop..
Still, the jury chose to only find Sliger-Rivera guilty of third-degree-murder rather than first degree.
“The family don’t care, give a (expletive) for my apologies. I just have to grin and bear it,” Sliger-Rivera said, nonetheless apologizing while facing backward toward around 20 members of Warren’s family who attended the sentencing..
Warren’s sister, mother and aunt spoke at the sentencing, lamenting the loss of Warren and expressing anger toward Sliger-Rivera. Warren’s grandfather also spoke.
Evans said he has seen plenty of accidental shootings, or shootings where the bullet struck and killed an unintended target.
“But with all the assaults I’ve seen over the years, I have a hard time wrapping myself around the circumstances of this one,” Evans said. “How does one address the mentality, this type of cold heart we witnessed on the video?”
Evans doled out 26 to 52 years in state prison for Sliger-Rivera — the mandatory maximum for third-degree murder is 20 to 40 years — and tacked on six to 12 years for other crimes Sliger-Rivera was convicted of.
Those include possession of a firearm while prohibited, carrying a firearm without a license, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession with intent to deliver.
“Yes,” Warren’s family exclaimed while clapping as Evans read out Sliger-Rivera’s sentence.
As sheriff deputies tried to escort Sliger-Rivera out of the courtroom, he paused an abnormally long time to have a verbal exchange with a man who sat behind him on the defense’s side of the courtroom. He looked as if he wanted to approach the man at the edge of the gallery, but sheriff deputies told him, “Not today.”
So instead he told that man to “Stay O 50” — street slang for telling him to stay out of trouble — before departing toward the exit. A member of Warren’s family yelled various expletive insults at Sliger-Rivera as he left.
Warren was a good kid who loved being outside and playing video games, according to Amir Stith, an older cousin who attended the trial.
The best thing about Warren was “the fact he could get along with everybody,” Stith said. “He was a very lovable kid.”