A 20-year-old man with an extensive and violent criminal history has received a 10-year prison term for terrorizing three unsuspecting victims under cover of darkness in the Twin Cities and carjacking their vehicles at gunpoint.

Javon T. Wilson-Branch, of Minneapolis, was sentenced Thursday in U.S. District Court in St. Paul after pleading guilty in August to aiding and abetting carjacking in connection with the string of crimes in Minneapolis and St. Paul in March.

"This individual put several lives at risk by going on an armed carjacking spree and evading law enforcement by driving 120 miles per hour through a residential neighborhood," U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger said in a statement announcing the sentence. "This case offers a snapshot of a disturbing trend of violent and reckless behavior."

The FBI's special agent in charge in Minneapolis added, "Wilson-Branch's cowardly and reprehensible actions, aimed at terrorizing innocent victims for personal gain, have no place in a just society."

Along with prison, Wilson-Branch's sentence includes three years of supervised release and an order to pay $1,100 in restitution to his victims.

Prosecutors said two other people accompanied him at various times during the carjackings. One of them, 20-year-old Marshall D. Carlvin Jr., of Minneapolis, was charged, convicted of two firearms-related felonies and sentenced on Jan. 8 to two months in jail.

The first of the carjacking victims, Annelise Christ, said Friday that she was in the alley behind her south Minneapolis home with her 12-year-old daughter after grocery shopping, and "it seemed like he just came out of the shadows, so to speak. ... [The encounter] felt like 15 minutes passed, but it was probably more like 2 minutes."

Despite the frightening episode and her SUV being totaled in the process, the Windom neighborhood resident said "we're hanging in there. Our neighbors were so helpful afterward and rallied around us. That really helped us feel safe."

Court records show that Wilson-Branch has been committing serious and sometimes violent crimes since he was 14 years old. They include first-degree robbery, fleeing police, burglary, theft and escape from custody. While in federal custody for the carjackings, he threatened a fellow inmate and tampered with security procedures.

According to state and federal court documents:

About 8 p.m. on March 16, 2023, Wilson-Branch and one of two accomplices approached two people in Minneapolis who had just parked and exited a Mercedes-Benz SUV to unload groceries. Wilson-Branch pointed an assault-style rifle at the victims, demanded all their possessions and drove away.

Around 4 a.m. the next morning, Wilson-Branch and an accomplice carjacked a Toyota SUV at gunpoint in the 4500 block of S. Lyndale Avenue in Minneapolis. Wilson-Branch with others pulled the Mercedes up next to the Toyota and demanded the victim's car keys at gunpoint. A device in the vehicle tracked the Toyota to St. Paul, where it was abandoned about 30 minutes later and soon recovered by police near Dayton and Cretin avenues.

About 5 a.m., Wilson-Branch and an accomplice parked the Mercedes behind an Audi A6 in St. Paul, exited with guns drawn and forced their next victim to give up his keys, wallet and phone. He also was forced to unlock his cellphone, which was used to make unauthorized money transfers from the victim's bank account to the accounts of Wilson-Branch and others.

Wilson-Branch drove away in the Audi, and an accomplice left in the Mercedes. St. Paul police spotted the vehicles about 30 minutes later near Maryland Avenue and Western Avenue. Officers attempted to pull both vehicles over, but the drivers raced away at speeds easily topping 100 mph, while ignoring stop signs and traffic lights in residential areas.

On March 18, police in Woodbury saw the Audi in a mall parking lot. Officers found Wilson-Branch in a Best Buy store. He fled outside, across Interstate 94 and into a senior-living facility. He was arrested in the facility's underground garage.

Seized by law enforcement from the Audi were a rifle, an unserialized handgun, ammunition stolen from a store and high-capacity magazines, along with the keys to the Toyota.