The 16-year-old survived extensive injuries after an early-morning shooting that later led to her boyfriend’s second-degree assault conviction.
BEAVERTON, Ore. — The messages arriving on a mother’s phone were short and alarming: her 16-year-old daughter said she had been shot and needed help. Nearly two years later, the man who fired the gun is serving a 70-month prison sentence after an Oregon jury convicted him of second-degree assault.
The teenager survived the Nov. 21, 2024, shooting at the Beaverton home of then-18-year-old Sky Alexander Korbut, but her survival was uncertain for days. Her mother told KPTV that the girl underwent repeated operations after a bullet caused serious internal injuries. At one point, relatives were told she might not live. While her family waited through surgeries, investigators were also trying to determine how the shooting occurred. Korbut called 911 and initially described what happened as an accident. Police arrested him on a lesser assault charge, but the case changed after detectives obtained evidence, including statements from the teenager, that authorities said contradicted him. A jury convicted Korbut in April 2026, and a Washington County judge later sentenced him to 70 months in the Oregon Department of Corrections.
The girl’s mother had expected her daughter to come home that morning. Instead, the first clear warning came in a sequence of texts. Publicly released screenshots showed the teenager writing, “I got shot,” then sending “Mama,” “Plz” and “Help me.” Her mother later recalled waking to the message and discovering that her daughter’s phone was no longer reachable. She began calling hospitals until she learned where the girl had been taken. The teenager was at Oregon Health & Science University, undergoing emergency treatment for injuries that would require a series of operations. The exchange between mother and daughter later became one of the most widely reported parts of the case because it captured the moments after the gunfire without requiring investigators to reconstruct what the wounded teenager was experiencing.
For the family, the days after the shooting were measured in surgeries rather than court proceedings. The girl’s mother told KPTV five days after the shooting that doctors had finally declared her daughter stable after a series of operations. The teenager was still sedated in intensive care, and her family understood that stability did not mean recovery was complete. Medical details cited later in court reporting indicated that the bullet damaged several internal organs. Reports based on court documents said she required about 20 liters of blood during treatment. Her mother’s public comments from the hospital described a pattern of progress followed by new uncertainty as surgeons tried to repair the damage.
The shooting occurred shortly before 5 a.m. at a residence on Southwest Prairie Terrace. The teenager had gone to Korbut’s home while trying to get a ride home, according to reports based on court records and family accounts. Korbut was cleaning his room, and a handgun was present. Court information cited by news outlets described the weapon as a Smith & Wesson handgun that had been placed on a dog kennel. When the gun was brought near the girl, she objected and pushed or slapped it away. Prosecutors said she was shot moments later. Those circumstances would eventually become central to a case that developed far beyond the initial description Korbut gave emergency responders.
Korbut’s first account emphasized an unintended discharge. He called 911 himself and told dispatchers that he had accidentally shot his girlfriend, Beaverton police said. He later told investigators that he thought he had removed the gun’s magazine before moving it and that the firearm went off while he was moving or waving it, according to court records cited by news reports. He also told authorities that he had acquired the firearm illegally from someone on the street after failing background checks. Police arrested him after the shooting on third-degree assault and unlawful possession of a firearm allegations, reflecting the information investigators had at that early stage.
The case did not remain there. The teenager survived long enough to provide investigators with her own account, and police said her statements contradicted Korbut’s version. Detectives developed additional evidence as the investigation continued, though the department has not published a full catalog of that evidence. Based on what investigators gathered, prosecutors took the matter to a Washington County grand jury. Korbut was then indicted on second-degree assault and unlawful possession of a firearm. The more serious assault count changed the stakes of the prosecution because Oregon law sets a 70-month mandatory minimum term for second-degree assault in cases governed by the state’s mandatory-minimum sentencing statute.
The legal proceedings unfolded well after the family’s most urgent medical crisis had passed. Korbut went to trial in April 2026, about 17 months after the shooting. Beaverton police said the trial lasted a week. Jurors found him guilty of both second-degree assault and unlawful possession of a firearm. The verdict was significant because it resolved the central criminal question differently from the way the incident was initially described to 911. The jury’s decision did not establish an unreported motive, and officials have not said Korbut had planned the shooting in advance. It did establish criminal responsibility for the assault charge prosecutors presented after their investigation.
By the time the sentencing was announced, Korbut was 20. Beaverton police said a Washington County Circuit Court judge ordered him to spend 70 months in the Oregon Department of Corrections. That is five years and 10 months. The term corresponds to Oregon’s statutory mandatory minimum for second-degree assault. The sentencing announcement did not provide a detailed account of arguments made by prosecutors, the defense or the victim’s family at the hearing, and officials did not release a complete transcript with the public notice. The confirmed outcome is the 70-month prison term following the jury’s April convictions.
The passage of time also changed how the case looked publicly. In November 2024, the immediate story was that a teenager was critically injured and fighting to survive while a young man said a gun had discharged accidentally. Local coverage focused on the girl’s surgeries, her mother’s fear and the family’s hope that she could return home. By August 2026, the central development was a completed trial and prison sentence. Police explicitly said detectives had uncovered evidence that contradicted the account Korbut gave at the beginning, providing the bridge between those two stages of the case.
The teenager’s mother had told KPTV during the hospital stay that she could not wait to hear her daughter laugh again. She also said she hoped the shooting would underscore the consequences of careless handling of firearms. Those comments came before the later indictment and trial and should be understood in the context of a mother speaking while her child remained in intensive care. The public record reviewed for the sentencing story does not provide a comparably detailed recent account of the teenager’s health. Authorities have confirmed that she survived, but they have not released a current medical assessment or described what lasting effects she continues to face.
What is known is that the girl’s recovery and the criminal investigation moved on separate tracks after the same early-morning event. She went from emergency surgery to a stable condition, while police moved from an initial third-degree assault arrest to a more serious indictment. A grand jury approved the upgraded charge, a trial jury returned guilty verdicts and a judge imposed the 70-month sentence. Each stage depended on information that was not available in the first hours after the shooting, when a mother was searching for her child and emergency doctors were trying to keep the teenager alive.
Korbut is now under the jurisdiction of the Oregon Department of Corrections as a result of the Washington County judgment. Beaverton police have not announced further charges in the case. The teenager’s most recent detailed medical condition has not been publicly released, leaving the court outcome as the clearest new development in a case that began with her urgent request for her mother’s help.
Author note: Last updated September 21, 2026.