BROCKTON— Massachusetts is once again under fire for its soft-on-crime reputation after a Brockton man who shot a 16-year-old girl in the face during a dispute over an $800 designer jacket was sentenced to just 2.5 years in state prison last month — a punishment critics say doesn’t come close to matching the violence of the crime.

The shooting happened on January 14, 2025, in the parking lot of the Avalon Easton Apartments, where the girl had arranged to meet a group regarding the jacket. What she believed would be a simple exchange erupted into chaos. According to investigators, the confrontation escalated, and 19-year-old Anthony Lopes fired a single round directly into her face at close range.

Neighbors reported hearing a lone gunshot before seeing the girl collapse. First responders found her bleeding heavily and fading in and out of consciousness. She was airlifted to a Boston trauma hospital, where surgeons worked to stabilize her. The injuries were catastrophic — a shattered jaw, extensive facial fractures, and a long road of reconstructive surgeries ahead.

After a weekslong investigation, police arrested Lopes and charged him with armed robbery, assault and battery with a firearm, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury, and possession of an unlicensed large-capacity firearm. Prosecutors described the shooting as an explosive act of violence over a luxury coat — a high-end item now eclipsed by the lifelong medical and emotional fallout facing the victim.

Despite the severity of the charges and the teen’s devastating injuries, a Massachusetts court handed Lopes a 2.5-to-3-year sentence last month, followed by probation. He is expected to be back on the streets long before the victim completes her medical recovery.

To many, it’s another example of a justice system where violent offenders get second chances while victims live with permanent consequences. A teenage girl was nearly killed over a jacket — and the man who shot her will serve barely more than a couple of years.

That, residents say, is Massachusetts justice.