Parents of murdered Minneapolis man call decision to drop charges a "slap in the face"
MINNEAPOLIS — The parents of a Minneapolis shooting victim say releasing the man charged with their son's murder is a slap in the face.
Laleta and Derek McClendon say they feel betrayed by the Hennepin County Attorney's Office.
Deveall McClendon was killed last year near the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden.
"I'm hurt," Derek said. "My baby is gone. [Laleta's] child is gone."
Police say McClendon was shot six times while driving, with the bullets coming from another vehicle.
A man was charged with the murder, and the McClendons say they were given the impression there was strong evidence against him.
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The charges were dropped last month though, and the suspect walked free.
"It's devastating," Laleta said. "It's crushing."
In charging documents, prosecutors said the suspect's Snapchat location "moved identically with the [shooter's car's] travels...as is seen on surveillance video."
But the defense claimed Snapchat data showed the closest he ever got was half a mile away.
Prosecutors also say there's video of the suspect holding the murder weapon.
His lawyers argued the video doesn't connect him to the McClendon shooting, and they say on top of that, his DNA wasn't found in the shooter's car either.
Prosecutors eventually dropped the charges because of "insufficient evidence...to prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt."
McClendon's parents believe strongly he wasn't involved in anything that would've led to him being targeted, and the shooting was random.
"Deveall wasn't that type of clubbing person," Laleta said. "Didn't do drugs, didn't party, didn't smoke."
Derek says Deveall "wasn't that kid that was going to give you problems."
They feel more needs to be done with their son's case.
"I'm not just going to fold and allow this to be brushed off like this," Laleta said. "Something has to be done. Somebody did it."
The Hennepin County Attorney's Office responded to this story with a statement that said, "Mr. McClendon's family is experiencing unimaginable pain and we are deeply sorry for their loss. We have had close contact with them throughout this process and will continue to as the investigation into this senseless tragedy continues. We continue to work with MPD to build sufficient evidence to hold anyone involved in this murder accountable for their actions."
WCCO reached out to the Minneapolis Police Department asking for an update on the investigation but didn't immediately hear back.
