As he sits in his Pikesville home paralyzed from the chest down, Herve Massaba says he feels no ill will toward the men who robbed and shot him, leaving the college student to die on the side of the road.

“What happened has already happened,” says Massaba, 24, an African immigrant. “I always liked to be independent. Now I have to get help from everybody. But I’m doing fine. I’m not desperate or anything. It’s a miracle that I’m alive. Many people die from injuries less than mine.”

The last of Massaba’s four alleged assailants, Riyan Seth-Jordan Williams, 19, pleaded guilty Wednesday to attempted first-degree murder and handgun offenses. He will be sentenced to 20 years in prison on June 6, under a plea deal.

“It was a really awful case,” said Marshall Henslee, Williams’ attorney. “It’s a totally innocent guy. He was just a poor kid who got caught by some guys who were looking to rob somebody. He’s paralyzed for the rest of his life.”

This story continues below
Advertisement

Massaba didn’t come to court Wednesday to watch the final leg of his trial. There was no need, he said. 

  “I don’t really have anything to say to them,” he said of his attackers.

Two others were convicted in the crime; one was acquitted.

Rodney Moore, 25, of Windsor Mill, guilty of being a felon in possession of a handgun, was sentenced to five years in prison. Derrick Henry Leroy Jacobs, 21, of Randallstown, pleaded guilty to theft and is awaiting sentencing. Carlos Fisher, 23, of Gwynn Oak, was acquitted. A college student from Cameroon who hoped to become an electrical engineer, Massaba was walking in the 3700 block of Rolling Road in Windsor Mill around 11:30 p.m. on July 5 after taking a bus home from his job when four males began chasing him. They forced him to some bushes between Rolling Road and Valdivia Court, took his iPod, and when he resisted, shot him with a handgun once in the upper torso, police said.

“They robbed me and asked me for money,” Massaba said. “I had nothing to give to them. I heard a gunshot and I didn’t really know I got shot at the time. I tried to walk, but I couldn't. I just sat down and I dialed my father's number and I told him what happened and where I was. I don’t remember anything else. I just woke up at the hospital.”

Massaba’s father, Venant, said the family is trying to expand their Pikesville home but can’t  afford the $60,000 to adjust their home. 

“My son, they destroyed his life,” he said of Herve’s attackers. “I tried to make room for him. I put him in the basement, but  there’s no room for him. “

Meanwhile, Massaba plans to get back in school and pursue a career in electronics.

“That’s what I want to do, but I'm not sure I can with my situation right now,” he said. “I just thank the Lord for being alive.”

lbroadwater@baltimoreexaminer.com