Man sentenced in 2023 killing of 15-year-old Ka'Maih Johnson
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — A 20-year-old man who pleaded guilty to shooting and killing a 15-year-old girl near Lake of the Isles last year was sentenced Friday to 12.5 years.
Antonio Brooks Jr. pleaded guilty in September to one count of second-degree unintentional murder. Documents said that he he met Ka'Maih Johnson near 25 1/2 Street and Girard Avenue South in Minneapolis on July 17, 2023.
According to court documents, Johnson and a witness got into a car with Brooks and were joking around, until Brooks said "I'm going to shoot you all." The witness told him to stop playing, but Brooks responded with "I'm gonna shoot this bitch up."
The witness and Johnson then went back to a separate car. Johnson was in the back seat, hanging out the open window, when there was a gunshot.
Johnson was pronounced dead at the scene from a gunshot wound to her chest.
Her father told WCCO she was getting ready to go to high school.
"My thoughts are with Ka'Maih's family," Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said. "She should still be with her family. Instead, the community has lost another young person to gun violence. Mr. Brooks will be held accountable for his actions, but we must do more at every level to reduce the terrible impact of gun violence in our communities."