More Serious Charge To Be Filed Against Alleged 4th Precinct Shooter
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A more serious charge is expected to be filed against the one of the four men accused in the shooting of five Black Lives Matter protesters outside the 4th Precinct.
On Friday, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman says the attorney office intends to file the additional charge against 23-year-old Allen Lawrence Scarsella, of Lakeville.
Freeman says one bullet lodged so close to a 19-year-old shooting victim Tevin King's arteries that it can't be removed from his abdomen. As a result, Freeman says a new charge of first-degree assault will be filed to replace the original second-degree assault charge.
The other three men — 26-year-old Daniel Macey of Pine City, 27-year-old Joseph Backman of Eagan, and 21-year-old Nathan Wayne Gustavsson of Hermantown — are charged with one count each of second-degree riot with a dangerous weapon and face a minimum of three years in prison if convicted.
"There is no doubt that the attack by the four was racially motivated," Freeman said. "The defendants' own statements, their videos, show that these are sick people. Maybe I shouldn't say that, but the language they use, and what they say about fellow Americans, citizens, are just not acceptable."
Freeman stressed again that the charges he brought are the strongest he felt he could prosecute at this point.
He said more serious charges, including possible federal hate crime charges, could be filed at a later date.
