YOUNGSTOWN — Derrick L. Jackson, 33, of East Midlothian Boulevard, was sentenced Wednesday to five to six years in prison after pleading guilty to felonious assault and a gun specification for a March 5 incident at his home in which he fired a gun three times at his “brother.”

Mahoning County Assistant Prosecutor Katherine Jones told Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Judge Anthony D’Apolito that Jackson and the man Jackson shot at are “such close friends that they refer to each other as brothers.”

On March 5, the victim “returned to his home, where (Jackson) also lived. He began playing with kids in the house, maybe a little louder than the defendant liked. That led to an exchange of text messages between the two, resulting in the victim telling (Jackson) he would have to move out of his home,” Jones said.

Jackson then “confronted the victim with a firearm and fired three shots at him, luckily missing each time, following him through the house.” The victim left the home and called for help. The victim’s girlfriend and three kids were in the home at the time of the incident, Jones said.

The victim, who was present in the courtroom, wrote a letter that Jones read to Judge Anthony D’Apolito, which was written as a statement to Jackson.

“We were supposed to be brothers no matter what. And in a swift moment, that all changed,” it stated. “That night changed me forever. I never in any lifetime would have thought you would pull a gun on me, let alone shoot it at me, not once but three times without a care in the world.

“You didn’t care about the kids or the other people in that house, only you. Your ignorance for all people around you showed that night. The way you looked at me before you fired the first shot was a look with so much hate that I thought I would never see from someone I called a brother.”

Jackson did not wish to offer any remarks, saying only: “It is what it is.”

D’Apolito said he has heard too many stories in his courtroom over the years about the things people have done to others to “doubt that anyone can do anything at any time. There are people who love each other and care about each other. I’ve seen enough damage inflicted by those people that you can’t say that it shocks me. I wish I could. We are just flawed people.”

He added, “Almost by a miracle nobody got hit or this would be a whole different outcome,” he said. “Luckily, lives were not ruined forever.”