23-year-old Rashad Jamal May will serve just 117 days in the Hennepin County Workhouse for his role in a shooting last August at the Mall of America.
Under the terms of a plea agreement, May pleaded guilty to aiding an offender and a second-degree assault charge against him was dropped. He was also approved for work and school release during his confinement. May will be required to serve an additional 364 days in the workhouse if he violates the terms of his two-year probation, according to court records.
Judge William H. Koch’s sentence was a downward durational departure from the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines.
“This matter arose from Mr. May first being attacked while shopping at the Mall of America. Video showed he was standing in line with a friend to pay for an item when someone came from the back of the line and punched him in the back of the head. That person was one of a group of five, who then proceeded to scuffle with Mr. May and his friend. The two were able to quickly escape out of the store to the main walkway of the mall,” Koch wrote in a court document.
“The group was starting to chase after the two when Mr. May’s friend fired a gun into the store. This all happened rather quickly. Because of an earlier altercation with some of these same people a year earlier (also on his birthday), Mr. May feared for his safety. They fled. Mr. May called to arrange a third-party to pick them up at the mall to escape. (Within about a day or two, he was attempting to coordinate with his attorney to voluntarily turn himself in),” he added.
The gunman, 21-year-old Shamar Alon Ramon Lark, pleaded guilty earlier this month to second-degree assault. He was also charged with intentional discharge of a firearm that endangers safety and carrying a pistol in public without a permit, but those charges were dismissed under the deal, Fox 9 reported. Lark, who has prior convictions on gun offenses, will be sentenced July 26.
Lark and May were arrested in Chicago a week after the Aug. 4 shooting. The five other individuals involved in the fight have not been identified and none of them were injured. The mall was placed on lockdown for over an hour because of the incident.
Anthony Gockowski
Anthony Gockowski is Editor-in-Chief of Alpha News. He previously worked as an editor for The Minnesota Sun and Campus Reform, and wrote for the Daily Caller.
