PARIS – A Mexico man began serving eight years in prison this month for attempted murder of Jay man last December.

John M. Ryerson, 26, was sentenced to 15 years in prison with all but eight years suspended. He began serving time Sept. 9.

He pleaded guilty to a charge of aggravated attempted murder, a Class A felony. Two other felony charges – elevated aggravated assault and aggravated assault – were dismissed in the plea arrangement.

Ryerson must also pay $7,790 restitution to a Victim Compensation Fund through the Department of Corrections by Oct. 9, 2012.

On release from prison in 2012, Ryerson is to be placed on six years’ probation.

Ryerson was initially arrested by Mexico Police Chief James Theriault on Dec. 1, 2003, in connection with the shotgun shooting of 24-year-old Matthew Pettengill of Jay.

The incident began at 12:18 a.m. when Ryerson’s former girlfriend called Theriault asking that Ryerson be removed from her residence at 35 Whitman St.

Pettengill, who was visiting, was there when Theriault arrived and ordered Ryerson to leave, which he did.

Then, at 1 a.m., an Oxford County dispatcher in Paris sent Theriault back to the residence to investigate a shooting complaint and an injury.

When he rushed back, Theriault said he found Ryerson in the driveway, kneeling on his knees with his hands in the air and his back to the chief, who handcuffed him.

A single-shot 12-gauge shotgun was found 10 feet behind Ryerson.

According to Theriault’s affidavit, Ryerson’s former girlfriend was standing in front of a porch window, through which Ryerson fired from the outside.

Right before the gun went off, Theriault said the woman had just bent over to look at her 5-week-old baby boy, who was in an infant seat on the floor.

“She heard the bullet whiz by her head, and then she saw Matthew standing there bleeding,” Theriault stated.

The woman’s 2-year-old daughter also witnessed the shooting.

Theriault said the slug went through Pettengill’s right shoulder, shattering his right arm bones, through the inside wall of the residence and out the rear side window on the north side of the house.

Later, during an interview, Theriault stated that Ryerson confessed and said that before the shooting, he had drunk “about a 12-pack of beer and one shot of tequila at Shooters,” a bar on Roxbury Road in Mexico that is now known as Tommy Guns Pitstop.