A 17-year-old has been sentenced to 48 years in prison for fatally shooting a man during a drug deal in Aurora in 2019, the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office said.

Xavion Daewayne Johnson pleaded guilty on May 5 to one count of second-degree murder in the death of 24-year-old  Gayland Allen Jr.. Other counts against him were dismissed as part of a plea agreement.

“There was no reason that Mr. Allen had to die,” said District Attorney John Kellner. “It’s a tragedy that his family and friends should not have been forced to confront. In this case, yet again we see illegal drugs playing a part in senseless violence.”

The murder happened on Dec. 28, 2019, when Allen went to sell marijuana to a girl he knew. The girl brought three other teens with her, including Johnson. When Allen got in the car to make the sale, Johnson shot him in the head, killing him.

Johnson then directed the driver to take them to Lookout Mountain where he and the other teens dragged Allen out of the car. Johnson then threw Allen’s body over the guardrail, police said.

When the group returned to Aurora, Johnson made sure the car was cleaned to remove Allen’s blood.

Arapahoe District Court Judge Darren Vahle, who sentenced Johnson, called the murder “utterly senseless” and said the long prison sentence is “appropriate.”

“The way to show that Gayland’s life matters is to say ‘no’ to this kind of violence,” Vahle said. “We can show mercy, but it is imperative to speak to the community and this family and say that this life matters.”

The same day of the murder, the group of teens were arrested after being caught shoplifting in Denver. They were in possession of a stolen car and multiple firearms during the arrest, police said.

After Allen’s body was found on Lookout Mountain on Jan. 1, 2020, investigators linked the murder to the teens.

The three other teens told police that Johnson was upset because his cousin was killed in a shooting at the Aurora Mall the day before. Before they met Allen on Dec. 28, Johnson told them, “I’m going to catch a body tonight, and I don’t care who it is.”

“There is no justice for the life that was taken … The defendant was just looking for someone to murder,” said Chief Deputy District Attorney Andrew Steers. “Nothing about this sentence should diminish this act.”

Johnson is being held in a juvenile detention facility. He will serve his sentence at the Colorado Department of Corrections.

Johnson and the other three teens were charged in Allen’s death. Two of the teens have received sentences to the Division of Youth Services and one will be sentenced in July.