“All my hopes and dreams died on November 9, 2008 with the little girl who defined me,” the heartbroken mother of 19-year-old Alexandra “Xanda” Gomes wrote in a statement read aloud to the court after the man charged with fatally shooting the teen admitted to his role in her death.

“Not a day has passed that I do not shed a tear, and more often than not, you can find me totally despondent, a broken woman who wants nothing more than to hold her baby and hear her say, ‘I love you mommy,’” Gomes’ mother wrote.

At a Suffolk Superior Court hearing today, DANIEL HARRIS (D.O.B. 1/1/85) of Dorchester was sentenced to 20 years in state prison after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter for fatally shooting Gomes on Elder Street on the evening of Nov. 9, 2008, and three counts of armed assault with intent to murder for the non-fatal shooting of three others. He also admitted to unlawfully possessing a firearm and ammunition.

Superior Court Judge Thomas Connors sentenced Harris to serve 18 years in prison for the manslaughter charge, and an additional two years in prison for the firearm conviction. Connors additionally sentenced Harris to serve five years of probation following the completion of his prison term, and informed the defendant that, if he should violate the terms of his probation or re-offend during that period, he could face the maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each of the three armed assault with intent to murder charges and a minimum of two years in a house of correction for the unlawful possession of ammunition charge.

Had the case proceeded to trial, Assistant District Attorney David Fredette would have proven that at about 2 a.m. on the morning of the shooting, Harris arrived on foot to the area of Elder Street, coming from Columbia Road. As Harris approached, he allegedly fired numerous rounds from a semi-automatic pistol at a group of people who had gathered outside of a home on that street, injuring a 17-year-old woman, two men, and fatally wounding Gomes. Fredette told the court that an individual in the group who worked as a security guard and who had a license to carry a firearm, returned fire, hitting Harris in the hip, wounding him.

Fredette would have proven that, when emergency medical technicians arrived on the scene after the shooting, they found Harris on the ground close to the scene of the shooting, and a trail of blood leading from Harris to a discarded .45 caliber pistol. A subsequent ballistics examination determined that a projectile recovered from Gomes’ body was consistent with the handgun recovered at the scene.

Boston Police officers who responded to the area shortly thereafter were notified that multiple shooting victims had been transported to an area hospital. Gomes was pronounced dead at the hospital, as the result of gunshot wounds to the torso. The three other victims were treated for their injuries and released.

Fredette was second-seated by Assistant District Attorney Laura Montgomery. Harris was represented by attorneys Neil Tassel and Brad Bailey. Proceedings were in courtroom 806 of the Suffolk Superior Court.