A Long Island man has been sentenced to prison for shooting an 11-year-old boy in his Springfield Gardens home. Michael Peterson, 19, of Elmont, shot the child in the chest seriously injuring him.

According to District Attorney Richard Brown, Peterson had an argument with the victim’s older brother and shot the youngster simply because he was the one who answered the door.

“The shooting was totally senseless and could well have resulted in the child’s death,” said Brown.

According to the charges, on December 30, 2007, Peterson rang the doorbell at the Springfield Gardens home where Tyshaun Falconer, 11, lived with his parents. When the child answered the door there was no one there, until Peterson suddenly appeared and asked: “Where’s your brother, Tony?”

Falconer then saw a bright flash, felt a pain in his chest, and ran inside to his parents. He suffered a gunshot wound and was taken to Long Island Jewish-Schneider Children’s Hospital.

Peterson pleaded guilty last month to second-degree attempted murder and was sentenced to ten years in prison.