An 18-year-old Minneapolis man received an 11-year sentence Wednesday for his role in a shooting at a crowded Minneapolis Metro Transit station one morning in April that wounded two people.
18-year-old gets 11 years for Minneapolis transit station shooting that wounded two
The intended victim was charged with attempted murder in a September stabbing at a light-rail station.
November 1, 2023 at 10:41PM
Amerion Nell Robinson pleaded guilty in early October as part of a negotiated agreement to attempted murder in Hennepin County District Court. Prosecutors charged Robinson with two counts of second-degree attempted murder and two counts of first-degree assault in connection to the April 14 shooting at the I-35W/Lake Street station that sent commuters scrambling for cover.
Robinson and two other suspects — who were never identified or charged — all pulled guns on a man who survived a bullet piercing his chest. A bystander was treated for a gunshot wound to his back while the intended target needed a breathing tube for his collapsed lung.
A report from Minneapolis police, which assisted at the scene, names the intended victim as 25-year-old Jeffrey Lee Corley-Jones. In September, five months after the shooting, Corley-Jones was charged with attempted murder for stabbing a man at a Minneapolis light-rail station. Police say Corley-Jones admitted to the stabbing while holding a bloody knife and that he allegedly did it for practice to protect his family.
Corley-Jones and Robinson were shown arguing on video surveillance, charges say. Robinson left and returned 15 minutes later with the other suspects and they all approached Corley-Jones. Robinson took out a pistol at point-blank range. The other two suspects drew a pistol and rifle. Robinson and one of the suspects chased Corley-Jones out the west doors with guns pointed at him. The unidentified suspect fired from the rifle and all suspects fled.
The Hennepin County Attorney's Office in court filings says that Robinson "committed the crime as part of a group of three or more people who all actively participated in the crime."
Metro Transit spokesman Drew Kerr said the shooting remains under investigation but no other arrests have been made.
If Robinson would have gone to trial, the state would have been seeking an aggravated sentence. Filings say that Robinson's "conduct caused a greater-than-normal danger to the safety of other people because he fired toward another individual inside a crowded metro transit station at about 10:15 a.m. Surveillance video showed that the transit station was crowded with other people."
Robinson's defense attorney, DeAundres Wilson, said in an interview immediately after the sentencing that despite his client's lack of criminal history and age, prosecutor Dominic Haik wouldn't agree to a term of less than 11 years.
"I think the state's concern was that this happened in public and it was a public safety concern," Wilson said. "So for us the determination came down to risk management. Because if he were to get convicted and got sentenced, they were seeking an increased or enhanced sentence."
In court, Wilson said they "discussed numerous offers made by the county attorney to resolve this case." He said they continued to negotiate to get a lower sentence; Robinson thought he could get less time.
Robinson declined to comment before Judge Anna Andow accepted his plea. Haik asked Andow to accept the negotiated agreement, which he said follows sentencing guidelines.
The agreement dismisses one each of the attempted murder and assault counts. For pleading guilty to one of the attempted murder counts, Robinson receive just shy of 11 years. He will serve three years concurrently for the remaining assault count.
Robinson has credit for serving six months in jail. Officers arrested him five days after the shooting at the same transit station while he possessed a Glock handgun and ammunition.
Nick Kimball, spokesman for the Attorney's Office, said in a statement that based on the circumstances, the negotiated sentence was an appropriate outcome within guidelines.
"We are fortunate no one lost their lives in this extraordinarily dangerous and targeted attack in a crowded transit station," Kimball said.
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