More ‘Lows’ gang members hit with racketeering charges, 4 Minneapolis killings linked to indictment

A federal grand jury has charged additional members of the Minneapolis “Lows” street gang in an expanded indictment that includes four additional homicides, the latest move in federal prosecutors’ strategy to use racketeering charges to take down gangs.

Jahon Lynch, 20, Davant Moore, 23, and Marques Armstrong Jr., 30, are the newest members of the Lows charged in a superseding indictment against the street group, which claims territory south of W. Broadway in north Minneapolis. With the trio’s charges, which range from carjacking to firearm possession, the number of Lows members indicted in the federal racketeering case rises to 14. All three are in federal custody.

The homicides featured in the latest indictment include a 2021 killing inside a crowded Minneapolis barber shop after Armstrong and another member, Kaprice Richards, allegedly fired at least 26 rounds through the window. Lynch is accused of using a carjacked vehicle two years later to drive several Lows members, including Moore, to north Minneapolis where they shot into a group of people, killing one person. The indictment also includes a 2022 drive-by shooting that left two people dead.

If convicted, the defendants could face up to life in prison.

The indictment is a continuation of the multiagency initiative led by the U.S. Attorney’s Office to crack down on Minneapolis’ street gangs using the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) law – a statute first used in the 1970s that toppled East Coast mob families.

Federal prosecutors said the strategy, launched under former U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger, is an effective means of going after whole criminal organizations instead of individual charges.

“These types of prosecutions have more impact on the community, certainly with deterring gangs, taking them down, disrupting or dismantling an organization by charging some or all or most of their members, or a good chunk of it and their leadership,” said acting U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson, who credited the Department of Justice’s Violent Crime and Racketeering Section for its assistance in putting together the difficult cases.

RICO trials against members of the Highs gang, a rival of the Lows, ended in late July with 38 of the 40 defendants convicted. Prosecutors and police say the effect of the RICO cases is evident in the drop in gun violence, particularly in north Minneapolis, historically beset by the city’s highest rates of gunfire. To date, the north side in 2025 has recorded its lowest number of shootings in at least 17 years, according to police.

The Minneapolis Police Department has worked closely with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in building the RICO cases and assigned two full-time investigators for the case.

“I think Minneapolis always gets judged by —because of everything that’s happened here, starting five years ago — always gets judged in terms of crime, are we back to what it was like prior to the pandemic?” Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said in an interview this week. “At least on the north side, we’re better than it’s ever been since we started tracking shootings.”

The impact has been felt by residents, O’Hara said. W. Broadway and N. Lyndale Avenue was in the past one of the most dangerous corners in the city, recording more than 30 people shot in the half-mile radius each year between 2020 through 2022. Last year, the same area saw one shooting, he said.

“One woman that leads an organization in north Minneapolis … she’s lived here for about 20 years, she says it’s literally the quietest it’s ever been on her block,” recalled O’Hara.

“Using federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations statues ... the FBI and our partners have been, and will continue to be, relentless in dismantling the Highs and Lows and freeing the north Minneapolis community from their reign of terror,” said Alvin Winston Sr., the Minneapolis FBI’s special agent in charge.