A teenager received nearly 23 years in prison Monday for fatally shooting a 15-year-old boy at a downtown Minneapolis light-rail station last summer as the unarmed victim had his hands raised.
Tashawn C. Powell, 17, of St. Paul, was sentenced in Hennepin County District Court after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in connection with the Aug. 2 killing of Fred Ulysses Walker of Minneapolis, who was shot in the chest at the station along 5th Street west of Nicollet Mall.
With credit for time in jail since his arrest, Powell can expect to serve about 14 3⁄4 years in prison and the balance on supervised release. The court also ordered him to pay restitution of more than $7,000 to cover Walker's funeral expenses.
According to the complaint:
Metro Transit video surveillance captured the shooting, according to the criminal complaint, which did not offer a motive for the crime. Powell was on the train when it pulled into the Nicollet Mall station. Walker stepped onto the platform holding only a cigarette in one hand, the complaint continued.
Powell stared down Walker through a train window before pointing a handgun at the 15-year-old, who raised both hands "in the air showing that he is unarmed," the complaint read.
Powell shot Walker in the chest from a few feet away. Powell got off the train and ran. A bystander and transit police provided aid to Walker before paramedics took over and declared him dead at the scene.
Transit security video allowed police to build a description of the shooter. That information led to police learning that Powell had boarded a Metro Transit bus. The driver told police the teenager got off the bus on Hennepin Avenue and then started walking toward SE. Main Street.
