Man gets life sentence in drug-related deaths of 3 people

ST. LOUIS (AP) - A St. Louis man involved in three murders over a minor drug debt has been sentenced to life in prison.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that 26-year-old Demante Syms was sentenced Tuesday.

Syms and two other men were seeking repayment of a heroin debt in 2015 when a man and two women were fatally shot.

Syms pleaded guilty to a heroin conspiracy charge, a gun charge and a charge of tampering with a witness.

Another man, Jacobi Temple, pleaded guilty in March to several counts. He's expected to get a 50-year sentence as part of a plea agreement.

The third man, Samuel Spires, was sentenced in May to 20 years in prison. He pleaded guilty to heroin conspiracy and a gun charge.