Jurors convicted a Minneapolis man of first-degree murder for shooting a man and leaving him in a snowbank on an Inver Grove Heights street.

Gabriel Alfonso Sanchez Cruz, 44, was found guilty Wednesday in Dakota County District Court in connection with the killing on Jan. 31, 2021, of Bryant J. Lutgens of Burnsville.

The jury deliberated for about two hours before returning their guilty verdict on the first- and second-degree murder counts. Cruz remains jailed without bail ahead of sentencing on July 12, when he will receive the legally required term of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Lutgens' body was found about 8 a.m. on Feb. 1, 2021 — his 39th birthday — just east of Interstate 494 on the south side of the 1300 block of W. 60th Street. He had been shot in the head.

According to prosecutors:

A woman told police that Cruz asked her on Jan. 31, 2021, whether Lutgens had any methamphetamine to sell. She arranged for them to talk on the phone, and the two men set up a meeting.

She said Cruz returned to the apartment about 11:45 p.m. told her that he shot Lutgens.

Cruz explained that he pulled out a gun intending to rob Lutgens, and the two started struggling over Lutgens' backpack. Lutgens fell, Cruz shot him and fled in his victim's SUV with all of Lutgens' belongings.

Inver Grove Heights police put out an alert to other law enforcement to watch for Lutgens' rented SUV. The rental company used its tracking system and located the vehicle on Feb. 3, 2021, in Minneapolis.

Minneapolis police tried to stop the SUV, and a gun was thrown from the vehicle during the pursuit. The SUV soon crashed in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood, and Cruz fled from the vehicle along with two other occupants, but Cruz was quickly arrested.