Star Tribune
Teen ordered to stand trial as adult for fatal Mall of America shooting
A teenager was ordered this week to stand trial for murder as an adult in connection with a fatal shooting at the Mall of America the day before Christmas Eve.
Lavon Longstreet is accused of shooting 19-year-old Johntae Hudson inside the Nordstrom department store at the mall. The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office charged him and an accomplice with second-degree murder and assault while two other teens face riot charges for their role in the fight that turned to gunfire. At the time of the shooting, Longstreet was 17 years old and six weeks away from turning 18.
Surveillance video shows the suspects chasing Hudson, of St. Paul, through the store before Longstreet and TaeShawn Adams-Wright, 18, stood over him and fired multiple shots.
Longstreet fled the state and Bloomington police issued a warrant. Authorities arrested him in Georgia three weeks after the shooting.
Ever since, parties have argued whether his case should proceed in juvenile or adult court. In a hearing Monday, Judge Bruce Manning sided with prosecutors.
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty filed an official motion soon after taking office to have Longstreet certified as an adult, which was the direction the case was headed under the previous administration.
“Our goal is to protect community safety based on the unique circumstances of each case,” Moriarty said in a statement. “Mr. Longstreet played a lead role in a brazen shooting that left one person dead and endangered the lives of many others at the Mall of America. Given his age and role in the murder we will prosecute this case through the adult system.”
According to the charges:
Hudson was shot eight times shortly before 8 p.m. on Dec. 23, 2022. He died at the scene and police recovered his firearm that they say he fired twice.
Longstreet is shown chasing and tackling Hudson before a struggle ensued. Then he and Adams-Wright are shown holding firearms and running toward Hudson.
Longstreet pointed a gun toward Hudson, and the video shows a muzzle flash. Adams-Wright took a shooting stance over Hudson, while Longstreet also stood over him.
Meanwhile, customers and employees took cover. A bullet grazed one woman and she later found a bullet hole in her coat.
Adams-Wright’s trial is slated for September. He and Longstreet remain in custody. A trial date for Longstreet has not been set.
In a separate, nonfatal shooting at the Mall of America’s Nike store in August, 23-year-old Rashad May was charged with second-degree assault and aiding an offender to avoid arrest. He pleaded guilty this week to aiding his accomplice, Shamar Lark.
In exchange, prosecutors dismissed May’s assault charge. He will be sentenced June 27.
The Minnesota State Patrol has identified the motorist whose SUV hit a school bus taking kids to their Iron Range school.
The patrol said 19-year-old Svea Lynn Snickers, of Alborn, Minn., ran a stop sign at the intersection and hit the bus as it headed north on Hwy. 5. She was last reported to be in critical condition.
The collision occurred just east of Hibbing about 7:50 a.m. Thursday at the intersection of Hwy. 5 and Town Line Road, according to the State Patrol.
All 21 children heading to Cherry School suffered minor injuries when the bus flipped over about 7 miles southwest of its destination, the patrol said. The school serves about 600 students from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade, and students of all ages were on the bus, said St. Louis County Schools Superintendent Reggie Engebritson.
A witness told Hibbing police that students were able to crawl out of the bus on their own.
Snickers suffered critical injuries, was extricated from the wreckage by emergency responders and taken by air ambulance to Essentia Hospital in nearby Virginia, according to police.
The bus driver, 52-year-old Shawn Allen Lindula, of Iron, Minn., was expected to survive his injuries.
Star Tribune staff writer Jana Hollingsworth contributed to this report.
St. Louis Park will soon require landlords to give renters more notice before they file for evictions over late payments.
The city currently requires landlords to give tenants notice seven days before they file for eviction. Starting in November, landlords will have to give 30 days notice and use a form prepared by the city.
“This is a tough ordinance,” Council Member Lynette Dumalag, the only person to vote against the change, said during a meeting this week. “At least for me, personally, I felt that it pit those that care about affordable housing against one another.”
In public hearings and other forums, city leaders heard from renters who said the current requirements didn’t give them enough time to scrape together payments if they face a sudden hardship, such as losing a job. They also heard from at least one landlord who said he might have to increase deposits because he already struggles to make ends meet when renters fall behind on payments.
The change passed 4 to 1. Council Member Tim Brausen and Mayor Nadia Mohamed were absent.
PARK RAPIDS, Minn. — Ryan Leckner has resigned as Mayor of Park Rapids and the city council has officially declared a vacancy.
City Administrator Angel Weasner said councilmembers will hold a workshop on Sept. 24 to determine how to proceed. They can fill the vacancy by appointment or hold a special election, which Leckner said seems unlikely given that the November general election is just around the corner.
Until then, Leckner said “we’re thinking that we’ll just be able to get by with just one less council member.”
He added that Councilmember Liz Stone would likely serve as acting mayor until voters hit the polls.
Former Park Rapids Mayor Pat Mikesh is running uncontested for Leckner’s now-vacant seat.
In 2018, Mikesh stepped down a month before the election and Leckner successfully ran as a write-in candidate.
Leckner first joined the council in 2015 and is ending his third, two-year term as mayor early because his family built a home outside city limits. Construction of the home in Henrietta Township, and the sale of his existing home in Park Rapids, all happened faster than expected, he said.
“My term was up in November anyways,” he said, “so I was kind of planning on just not running.”
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