ST. PAUL, Minn. – A Minneapolis man was sentenced today to 42 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for possessing ammunition as a felon during a shooting at a Minneapolis gas station.
According to court documents, on August 5, 2019, Minneapolis police officers responded to a shots-fired call at a gas station near Lowry Avenue and Logan Avenue North in Minneapolis. Upon arrival, officers found 11 discharged cartridge casings on the street in front of the gas station. Video surveillance footage showed Cortez Lamon Shipp, 40, interacting with codefendant Johnnie Lamar Haynes, 33, outside the gas station following a prior confrontation Haynes had with two other men. Minutes later, the two other men involved in the confrontation circled the block in their vehicle and returned to the gas station. The footage showed Shipp pass an object to Haynes just before Haynes began shooting at the vehicle as it drove off. A nearby business was in the line of Haynes’s gunfire and was struck by multiple rounds. Surveillance video footage from the business captured the bullets entering the building, causing employees to duck and take shelter.
On January 8, 2020, Shipp pleaded guilty to one count of possessing ammunition as a felon. Because he has prior felony convictions in Hennepin County, Shipp is prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition at any time. On August 3, 2021, a federal jury convicted Haynes of possessing a firearm and ammunition as a felon. Haynes is scheduled to be sentenced on January 28, 2022.
Acting U.S. Attorney Charles J. Kovats made the announcement after U.S. District Judge Wilhelmina M. Wright sentenced the defendant.
This case is being prosecuted as part of the joint federal, state, and local Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Program, the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.
This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Minneapolis Police Department.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Calhoun-Lopez.
