BOSTON, Feb. 16, 2018—The parents of 17-year-old Ryan Morrissey spoke at a sentencing hearing today for the man convicted of his 2014 murder, mourning the loss of “a giant piece of our lives that can never be replaced.”

JULIO BAEZ (D.O.B. 2/28/91) was sentenced to the mandatory term of life in prison without the possibility of parole following his conviction yesterday for first-degree murder. At the request of Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley’s office, Judge Janet Sanders sentenced him to a concurrent term of 18-20 years for the non-fatal shooting of Morrissey’s friend, then 19, during the same incident.

Morrissey’s father addressed the court before the sentence was imposed. With the slain teen’s mother by his side, he thanked “the entire Charlestown community” for their support since Nov. 5, 2014, when their son was shot to death outside a Main Street convenience store. They recalled him as an “unassuming, funny, smart … kind, gentle, witty” young man who had a positive life ahead of him.

“He wanted to join the service and become a Boston firefighter,” Morrissey’s father said, and noted the crowd of friends and neighbors who were present before him in the packed courtroom. “The massive outpouring of support,” he said, “is a testament to the kind of person he was.” He told the court that since 2014 more than $250,000 had been raised in his name to help other young people attend school and summer camp.

The surviving victim also addressed the court briefly, telling Sanders that “Ryan was an amazing person. He could light up a room just by walking in.”

“Homicide prosecutors come to know the victims in their cases through surviving family and friends,” Conley said. “We came to know Ryan through these eyes and voices. We came to know him through his parents’ remarkable grace and dignity, even in their deepest grief. They show us what a remarkable young man he was, and what we all lost when he was taken.”

During a week and a half of trial, Assistant District Attorneys John Verner and Montez Haywood introduced evidence and testimony proving that Baez and two other men undertook a joint venture to commit the shooting outside 285 Main St. in Charlestown. Investigators do not believe Morrissey or his friend had any connection to the assailants, but both were shot. Morrissey died of his injuries on Nov. 9; his friend survived.

Witnesses reported that two gunmen fled on foot to a gray Acura that drove them away from the scene. Witnesses saw that Acura strike another vehicle as it sped away and reported the hit-and-run collision. Using a partial license plate number, Boston Police homicide detectives identified it as Baez’ mother’s car and later located it near her house. Based on additional evidence gathered in the weeks that followed, he was arrested on March 10, 2015, and has been in custody since that time.

Erin O’Connor was the DA’s assigned victim-witness advocate. Baez was represented by attorney John Amabile.

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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.