London ( CNN ) -- Three men convicted in a London gang shooting that left a little girl paralyzed were sentenced to life in prison Thursday , the Metropolitan Police said . The plight of Thusha Kamaleswaran , whose last carefree moments before she was caught in the crossfire last year were captured on surveillance video , touched many hearts in the United Kingdom . Now six , she remains in a wheelchair and will need care for the rest of her life , her parents say . The three men convicted , Anthony McCalla , Kazeem Kolawole and Nathaniel Grant , were all given life sentences by the court in London . The judge ordered that Grant serve a minimum of 17 years in prison , and McCalla and Kolawole a minimum of 14 years , before they are eligible for parole . The surveillance video used in their conviction last month showed Thusha , then a shy five-year-old with pigtails , dancing happily in the aisles of her uncle 's small store in Stockwell , southwest London . Moments later , she was knocked down by a bullet to the chest fired through the store 's open door by the three men as they pursued members of a rival gang . A statement given to the court by Thusha 's mother , Sharmilla Kamaleswaran , spells out the impact the tragedy has had on the family . `` I can not begin to explain the shock that I felt at the time of the shooting . We were at the shop as a family enjoying seeing relatives . The children were happy , running up and down the shop , playing and dancing . Seconds later I had to see Thusha lying on the floor , crying , telling me she could n't feel her legs . '' The ordeal has continued with her daughter 's surgeries and her daily struggle with pain , Sharmilla Kamaleswaran said . `` To see her lying in a hospital bed just took all of my heart away . My other children were crying . They could n't understand why this had happened . I can not think of a worse time in my life , '' she said . A year later , Thusha 's younger sister prays every day for her sister to `` get up and walk as before , '' their mother said . Meanwhile , Thusha 's dreams of becoming a dancer and musician have evaporated . `` It is hard for all at home to see an innocent child who had been hopping around like a little rabbit , playing with her siblings and friends , now paralyzed for life , '' Sharmilla Kamaleswaran said . The three men convicted at the Old Bailey court were tracked down after detectives viewed more than 700 hours of closed-circuit footage seized from more than 150 cameras , the police said . A 35-year-old man , Roshan Selvakumar , was also struck in the March 2011 attack as he shopped for groceries . He has bullet fragments still lodged in his head that can not safely be removed . `` The images of Thusha dancing happily in the Stockwell Food and Wine are images that many of us will struggle to erase from our memories , '' said Det . Supt . Gordon Allison . `` Today , McCalla , Kolawole and Grant will have many years in prison to reflect on the damage they caused to an innocent five-year-old girl and her family but also Roshan and the community that is London as a whole . '' Several Metropolitan Police officers who worked on the case are undertaking a charity trek to raise money for Thusha 's care later this year and have already raised more than $ 207,000 in donations , he said .
Three men convicted of a shooting that paralyzed a 5-year-old girl are given life sentences . Thusha was seen on surveillance video dancing happily moments before she was hit by a bullet . ` ` I can not think of a worse time in my life , '' her mother says . Score: 6