Photo by Mr. T in DC

A woman was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison for the March 2012 shooting of a gay man in the Columbia Heights IHOP, the Washington Blade reports.

The sentencing by Judge Michael Ryan came three months after a jury found Lashawn Yvonne Carson, a D.C. resident, guilty of aggravated assault while armed and six additional firearms-related charges.

During the four-day trial prosecutors played for the jury a video obtained from the restaurant’s security cameras that they said showed Carson, then 28, pull out a handgun and shoot Dante Thomas in the chest.

Thomas has since recovered from a gunshot wound to his liver that the lead prosecutor said could have been fatal if he had not received immediate medical treatment at a nearby hospital.

While the case was originally investigated as an anti-gay hate crime, that was dropped due to insufficient evidence, the Blade says. Witnesses reported that Carson, who was found guilty by a jury in October, used the slur “faggot” to describe Thomas or the other men at his table. From a release from the U.S. Attorney’s office:

As the victim was attempting to walk to the cash register to pay his bill, Carson and a male friend inadvertently stood directly in his way. The victim attempted to squeeze by and accidentally bumped into Carson. Words were exchanged, and the defendant’s male friend used a homophobic slur. A fight ensued, and an off-duty police detective, who was seated nearby, jumped up to break it up. At that point, according to the government’s evidence, Carson walked over, adjusted her hair, pulled out a firearm and shot the victim once in the chest.