ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — A Cohoes man will spend eight years behind bars, followed by five years of post-release supervision, stemming from an incident in Albany in July 2021. Albany County District Attorney P. David Soares announced the sentencing of Armando Sanchez, 31, on Tuesday in Albany County Court.

Sanchez pleaded guilty in August to one count of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree, an armed violent felony. That plea satisfied a two-count indictment handed up on June 29, 2022, with an initial criminal complaint alleging that Sanchez fired a handgun toward a group of people on July 25, 2021, near Clinton Avenue in Albany.

As part of his plea, Sanchez admitted to illegally possessing a handgun in the area of Grand Street and Elm Avenue on April 28, 2022. When officers tried to stop him for questioning, Sanchez threw the loaded 9mm handgun to the ground and ran away, he admitted in the August plea.

Assistant District Attorney Joseph Brucato handled the prosecution of this case. Sanchez was sentenced by the Hon. Andra Ackerman in Albany County Court.