ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. – A man convicted of a drive-by shooting several years ago on Interstate 270 in Des Peres has been sentenced to decades behind bars.

Deandre Cothran, 38, was sentenced to 70 years in prison on Friday, nearly three months after he was convicted. The shooting happened on April 24, 2020 in the northbound lanes of I-270 near Manchester Road.

According to court documents obtained by FOX 2, Cothran was in a white Volkswagen vehicle in a slower lane to the right of the victim. At some point, the victim’s vehicle was struck by multiple rounds of bullets, and the victim suffered a gunshot wound to her arm.

The woman pulled over, called police and informed them of a description of the vehicle she suspected in the shooting. Within minutes, police found the vehicle unoccupied near a Mercy hospital. Cothran was later stopped leaving the hospital, and police found shell casing on the driver’s side floorboard of his vehicle.

Amid court proceedings, DNA was retrieved from a gun found on an exit ramp, and lab testing confirmed the cartridges in the defendant’s vehicle had been fired from that gun.

“The victim told the court that she will suffer lifelong impacts from this utterly senseless act of violence, but I pray this sentence brings her some peace in knowing that her testimony helped protect all of us from this dangerous individual for what will probably be the rest of his life,” said St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell.

Of the six bullets Cochran fired at the victim, one struck her arm and still remains there, Doctors fear that surgery would cause nerve damage. “One man’s action changed my life forever,” the victim said ahead of the sentencing hearing.

Cothran was sentenced 30 years on an unlawful use or a weapon charge, 30 years for an armed criminal action charge and 10 years for unlawful possession of a weapon. All sentences run concurrently.