Both gunmen now have long prison terms for fatal Mall of America shooting days before Christmas 2022

Both gunmen who carried out a fatal shooting inside the Mall of America the day before Christmas Eve in 2022 have now been sentenced to long prison terms.

Lavon Longstreet, 19, received a term of more than 30½ years Monday in Hennepin County District Court after pleading guilty for his role in the killing of 19-year-old Johntae Hudson inside the mall’s Nordstrom department store.

With credit for time in jail since his arrest, Longstreet is expected to serve roughly 19½ years in prison and the balance on supervised release.

His accomplice, 19-year-old TaeShawn Adams-Wright, was sentenced on May 30 to more than 30 years. With credit for time in jail since his arrest, Adams-Wright can expect to spend the first 19 years in prison and the rest on supervised release.

“My thoughts go first to the victim and to their family and friends, who continue to suffer through the devastating loss of a loved one,” County Attorney Mary Moriarty said in a statement. “With the sentencing of Mr. Longstreet and his co-defendant, who killed one person and put the lives of many more at risk, we’ve now held both major actors accountable for Mr. Hudson’s death. These lengthy prison sentences reflect the severity of their actions and protect public safety.”

Moriarty’s office charged both teenagers with aiding and abetting intentional second-degree murder. Both pleaded guilty.

Shortly before 8 p.m. on Dec. 23, 2022, surveillance video showed the suspects chasing Hudson, of St. Paul, through the store before standing over him and firing multiple shots.

Hudson was shot eight times and died at the scene. Police recovered his firearm, which law enforcement said he fired twice.

Holiday shoppers and employees dove for cover as the shooting unfolded. A bullet grazed one woman.

At the time of the shooting, Longstreet was six weeks away from turning 18. Moriarty filed a motion to have him put on trial in adult court.

Longstreet fled the state. Authorities captured him in Georgia with his mother three weeks after the shooting.

Hudson’s slaying is the only fatal shooting in the Mall of America, according to a mall official. It was part of a string of incidents where guns were brandished in an armed robbery or a shooting inside the mall. About a week later, a man was shot in the leg and another was grazed by a bullet on the third floor on New Year’s Eve.

Months later in 2023, another shooting sent the mall into lockdown for two hours when a dispute ended with several shots fired outside a Nike store. No injuries were reported.

Weeks after that, a man armed with a long gun robbed a Lids store in the mall before being tackled and arrested.