A Brooklyn Center man has pleaded guilty to killing a man at a July 4 party last summer in Minneapolis, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced Friday.

Joseph Lee Smith, 25, was charged in the death of Cabrie D. Young, 28, of Minneapolis. Smith will be sentenced July 8 and is expected to receive 141 to 198 months in prison.

"This is a senseless tragedy," Freeman said. "Mr. Young had tried to break up several fights at a Fourth of July party he was attending. He was acting as a good Samaritan when he was shot.

"There was a lot of confusion among the witnesses about what happened, but we aggressively pursued this case and are satisfied with the resolution."

According to the criminal complaint, Young was one of a number of people who attended a party at a home on the 3400 block of Dupont Avenue N.

Several fights broke out, and Smith shot Young in the chest as Young tried to help a man who had been knocked unconscious during a fight outside the home.

Young ran into the house, and Smith followed him and continued to shoot, the complaint said.

DAVID CHANEN