Justin Kittleson sentenced to decade in prison for carjacking woman and her father outside Blaine Cub Foods
UPDATE (Aug. 30, 2023): Justin Kittleson was sentenced Tuesday. What follows is a revised version of the original story.
MINNEAPOLIS – A Maple Grove man was sentenced to a decade in prison Tuesday for an armed carjacking and shooting involving a woman and her father that happened last year outside of a Twin Cities grocery store.
The United States Attorney's Office says Justin Kittleson, 20, pleaded guilty to one count of carjacking and one count of brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.
On Sept. 24, 2022, Kittleson followed a man and his adult daughter out of the Blaine Cub Foods. As they were loading groceries into the woman's car, Kittleson pulled out a gun and demanded her keys.
Her father intervened, and Kittleson fired his handgun, grazing the father's ear. Kittleson then got in the woman's car and drove off.
MORE: "He was going to have to shoot me" - Carjacking victim tells story of saving daughter at gunpoint
According to the criminal complaint, police used surveillance video and information from the public to track down Kittleson, and they executed a search warrant at a residence five days later.
Investigators seized two firearms at the residence that were the same caliber as a shell casing found in the Cub Foods parking lot. They also found a sweatshirt that he was seen wearing during the carjacking.
Kittleson was sentenced Tuesday to 37 months in prison for the carjacking charge, and 84 months for possession and use of a gun while committing a violent crime. He will serve his sentences consecutively for a grand total of 10 years and one month in prison.
Upon release, Kittleson will be on three years of supervised release.
NOTE: The video above is from Sept. 30, 2022.