Twin Cities resident who shot at thieves fleeing in pickup and killed woman receives 5-year sentence

A Twin Cities man has received a five-year term for shooting at thieves in a fleeing pickup truck and killing one of the vehicle’s occupants.

Luke Joshua Cain, 30, of Richfield was sentenced in Hennepin County District Court last week after pleading guilty to second-degree unintentional murder in connection with the shooting on Dec. 6 of Sofia Rose O’Hotto, 26, of Minneapolis outside his home in the 6200 block of 5th Avenue S.

With credit for time spent in jail, Cain is expected to serve the first 3⅓ years in prison and the balance on supervised release.

O’Hotto was shot in the back of the head at 3:30 a.m. and found in the pickup about a half-hour later after a 911 call sent Minneapolis police to the 4500 block of Hiawatha Avenue S.

Defense attorneys argued in a court filing ahead of sentencing for Cain to receive no more than a year in prison.

“Mr. Cain, intending to scare them away from future attempts to break into his property, fired two shots in the direction of the thieves’ vehicle,” the attorneys wrote. “He did not intend to hit anyone and, in fact, did not realize that he had until 12 days later when police informed him that the victim had been shot and killed.”

According to the criminal complaint:

Cain said he confronted the people, who got in the pickup and drove off. He did not say anything about shooting at them.

Police interviewed Cain again and identified some of the items officers had recovered from the pickup when they found the vehicle soon after the shooting.

Cain acknowledged that no one in the pickup had a weapon or threatened him. He then admitted firing two shots at the pickup as it fled.

He also disclosed that he drove to his cabin in the Aitkin, Minn., area and left the gun there.