SCRANTON -- It was a crime that rattled a city: a taxi driver shot execution-style.
On Tuesday, the suspect -- only a teenager -- admitted he killed him.
It was May of 2014 when a 16-year-old boy was charged with shooting a cab driver to death because the driver refused to take a shortcut. The teenager thought the taxi driver was running up the meter on purpose.
Aazis Richardson, now 17, was asked to explain the murder in court Tuesday afternoon, but he refused.
Then, the judge asked him simply, "did you shoot Vincent Darbenzio?"
Richardson said, "Yes."
The cab driver's family has been waiting more than a year to hear that admission of guilt.
Richardson was arrested in May of 2014 after a murder that shook a sense of security for many in the city of Scranton.
Richardson, now 17, looks much different a year later after accepting a plea deal he turned down once before.
Richardson admitted to shooting a McCarthy Cab driver twice in the head outside Valley View Terrace apartments in South Scranton. He told investigators he felt that that victim, Vincent Darbenzio of Scranton, disrespected him by going a longer route.
"It was a brutal killing. There's no question about that from the facts and the circumstances that we know, and the facts and circumstances that were pleaded guilty today, this was a brutal senseless killing, plain and simple," said Lackawanna County First Assitant District Attorney Gene Talerico.
Lackawanna County prosecutors explained that even though Richardson was charged as an adult, because of his age, he falls under different sentencing rules. He will be required to serve at least 35 years in prison but could be sentenced to life in prison.
Prosecutors say Richardson's mother helped influence her son to plead guilty.
Darbenzio's parents were in court, too, most interested in hearing the teen take responsibility.
"I think that's a powerful experience, to know what the evidence says, to know what the police have charged and the government has charged, but then to hear the person accept responsibility. It adds a whole new dimension to what they've been experiencing since last May," said Talerico.
Aazis Richardson is scheduled to be sentenced next month and the judge can sentence him to serve time anywhere in that 35 to life range.