A Pennsylvania man has been sentenced after he shot his boyfriend and burned his body to cover up their relationship, according to authorities.
On Friday (September 27), 23-year-old Kylen Pratt was convicted by a Philadelphia jury of first-degree murder in connection to the 2022 death of Naasire Johnson, 20, per PEOPLE. Pratt was sentenced to life in state incarceration without the possibility of parole followed by a consecutive period of 4.5 to 9 years.
"This is an individual who was killed because he was gay and because the man who killed him did not want anyone to find out that he was in a relationship with him," Assistant District Attorney Cydney Pope said in a statement.
“Make no mistake,” Pope added. “The murder of Naasire Johnson was a hate crime. Kylen Pratt did not want anyone to know of his romantic involvement with the victim.”
On February 17, 2022, prosecutors said Johnson took an Uber from his family's home to Pratt's.
“Pratt shot Johnson in the neck shortly after the victim’s arrival,” prosecutors said in a statement. According to prosecutors, Pratt then took Johnson's body to a remote trail in Fairmount Park, where he set it on fire.
An anonymous tip helped authorities solve the crime, Pope said.
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