"Cold-blooded": Grieving parents react as MOA shooting suspect confesses to murdering Johntae Hudson
MINNEAPOLIS — One of the suspects accused of gunning down a teenager at Mall of America in 2022 pleaded guilty on Thursday — but did so after rejecting a plea deal offered by prosecutors.
TaeShawn Adams-Wright confessed to both second-degree intentional homicide and second-degree intentional assault and faces a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison. The deal that was offered was a sentence of 367 months (30+) years, but a straight plea allows the judge to solely determine sentencing, which could be less — or more.
The Christmas weekend shooting killed Johntae Hudson, 19.
Asked by his defense attorney on Thursday to confirm that Hudson was shot and killed at point-blank range after being tackled, Adams-Wright replied, "Yes."
Hudson's mother, Lynn, said she was shocked to hear the admission.
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"Only someone with a cold heart would do something like that. He's a cold-blooded murderer is what he is," Lynn told WCCO. "The only thing that matters is that he gets taken off the street because he is a danger to the community and if they let him go, he will kill somebody's else son."
A second suspect, Lavon Longstreet, faces the same charges as those levied against Adams-Wright. Longstreet's trial is scheduled for April 15.
Adams-Wright will be sentenced in May.
"My son is gone and no matter how long his sentencing, he'll still be here," Hudson's mother said of Adams-Wright. "His parents will have him, talk to him, write him, see him. We don't have that. I just want the world to know I had an amazing son who was full of love and life, and who was loved."