Victims of the shooting outside the Minneapolis Police Department Fourth Precinct in November 2015 saw more justice with Monday’s guilty plea by two accomplices of the man who shot them.
Nathan Wayne Gustavsson, 23, pleaded guilty to second-degree riot and aiding an offender, both felonies, and Joseph Martin Backman, 28, pleaded guilty to gross misdemeanor aiding an offender in connection with the Nov. 23, 2015, shooting, reports The Star Tribune.
The shooter, 25-year-old Allen “Lance” Scarsella, was found guilty on 12 counts of assault and rioting in the shooting of five Black Lives Matter protesters and was sentenced to 15 years in prison in April.
Prosecutors say they will seek jail time for the two accomplices.
Scarsella opened fired on the group, who were outside the police station protesting the death of Jamar Clark, a Black man who had been shot and killed by Minneapolis police. He pleaded self-defense during his testimony earlier this year, but prosecutors said the shooting was an intentional act of hate and violence.
The protestors surrounded Scarsella and his group and that was when he fired eight rounds from his gun, shooting and wounding five unarmed Black men. He had previously sent racist text messages to his friends that showed he wanted to shoot Black people.
He did not apologize for his actions at his trial, only saying he would live with the consequences the rest of his life.
Gustavsson and Backman are scheduled to be sentenced on July 19 where prosecutors will seek a sentence of six to eight months, along with up to 10 years of probation, for Gustavsson and 90 days in jail for Backman, with two years of probation.