A 17-year-old has agreed to spend several years in prison for using a dating app to lure a man into a carjacking trap in Minneapolis that left the victim with numerous critical gunshot wounds.
Randal Barnard Williams, 17, of Woodbury pleaded guilty Wednesday to first-degree assault in connection with his role in the attack on a 24-year-old man from Brooklyn Center on Dec. 5.
The plea deal in adult court calls for Williams to receive a 9½-year sentence. With credit for time in custody since his arrest, he is expected to spend just shy of six years in prison and the balance on supervised release.
Williams remains jailed in lieu of $1 million bail ahead of sentencing on Oct. 23.
Williams’ girlfriend, who was 15 years old at the time of the crime, was also charged. However, details about her juvenile court case are withheld from the public because she is under 16.
The couple were also charged with another violent crime in Minneapolis in October 2024, when they and others allegedly barged into an occupied Loring Park apartment, with guns drawn and wearing masks, in pursuit of a safe they failed to find.
As part of the plea deal, prosecutors agreed to have that case against Williams dismissed along with a fifth-degree assault charge.
