A former Marine was sentenced Tuesday to about 32 years in prison for fatally shooting a homeless woman and wounding her friend in his Lowertown apartment.

Jurors convicted Scott A. Klund Jr., 30, in February in Ramsey County District Court on one count of second-degree murder with intent for killing Charlotte A. Rawls, 52, and attempted second-degree murder with intent for shooting Ray Gruer, 31, and slicing his throat on May 7, 2016.

Ramsey County District Court Judge John Guthmann handed down sentences that will run consecutively — 21 3/4 years for killing Rawls and almost 11 years for injuring Gruer.

Rawls' mother and daughter pleaded with the judge for highest recommended sentences — nearly 46 years total. Rawls' daughter, Athena Lund, attended the sentencing but asked Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Thomas Ring to read her victim-impact statement.

"It is a surreal feeling — like watching a movie, only I can't change the channel or turn off the TV," said Lund's letter. "I think about her every day."

Klund met Rawls and Gruer at a SuperAmerica gas station near his apartment, and the three returned to the residence in the 200 block of 5th Street E. near Mears Park. At trial, Klund's attorneys argued that Rawls and Gruer invited themselves inside so they could rob Klund, and that Rawls had rifled through his bedroom. Gruer tried to steal Klund's wallet, waved a knife at Klund and refused to leave, attorneys Elizabeth Switzer and Aaron Hadorff argued.

They said Klund reacted using skills learned in the military. They asked the judge Tuesday to consider the trauma he had suffered as a Marine. (Court records indicate that Klund sought therapy in 2015 for hypervigilance, anger, anxiety and depression upon his return from Afghanistan, but was not diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.)

"He's a caring, loving, nonviolent person who, again, is a product of the training we gave him," Switzer said.

Ring argued that Rawls was unarmed and that Klund fired at Gruer with a military-grade assault rifle after Gruer locked himself in a bathroom.

"He was particularly cruel to his victims," Ring said.

Klund quoted Exodus chapter 22, verse 2 from the Bible in defense of his actions.

"I firmly believe I would not be alive today" had I not fired, Klund said. "I'm a good person who was caught in a difficult situation …"

His parents and several supporters declined to comment after the sentencing.

Gruer took some solace in knowing that Klunds' attorneys didn't get their first request for 30 years' probation, nor their second request for much less time.

"Charlotte died for no reason," said Gruer, whose neck and face were covered in scars from Klund's knife attack. "How am I doing? My life is like my face is — scarred."

Chao Xiong • 612-270-4708

Twitter: @ChaoStrib