Charges: Teen couple reels in carjack victim, leaves him in Twin Cities alley riddled with gunfire

A teenage couple used a dating app to lure a man into a carjacking trap in Minneapolis that left the victim with numerous critical gunshot wounds to his torso, according to charges.

Randal Barnard Williams, 16, of Woodbury, was charged Thursday in juvenile court in Hennepin County with attempted second-degree murder, and aiding and abetting both first-degree assault and first-degree robbery in connection with the attack on a 24-year-old man from Brooklyn Center.

The County Attorney’s Office has indicated to the court that it intends to seek having Williams prosecuted in adult court, which would mean a stiffer sentence for him if convicted.

Williams' 15-year-old girlfriend has been charged as well in juvenile court, but details about her case are withheld from the public because she is under 16 years old.

The couple is also charged with another violent crime in Minneapolis in October, 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.

Williams appeared in court Friday regarding both cases and remains in the juvenile detention center ahead of a hearing March 17. A message was left with his attorney seeking a response to the allegations.

According to the attempted murder charges:

Police responded to a report of a shooting about 11:26 p.m. in the 3900 block of 11th Avenue S. and saw the victim down in the alley. He was shot in the chest, abdomen, lower back and pelvis.

The man “survived, albeit with permanent injuries and lifelong impairment, including the removal of part of his stomach.”

The man said he met a female who went by Sasha on a dating app on Nov. 29, and they drove around with two of her female friends. They also drove to Woodbury to pick up Williams. The man said he saw that Williams had a handgun.

On Dec.5, the man again drove Williams, Sasha and some of their friends around. Late that night, Sasha asked the man to drive her to the 3900 block of 11th Avenue S. so she could visit her grandmother.

After they arrived, Sasha asked the man to leave his cellphone in the car and follow her down an alley. Williams joined them and shot the man, even while the victim was running away.

The man fell to the ground. Williams took his car keys and drove off with Sasha.

Police in Fridley found the man’s car on Dec. 13 about a block from an address associated with Sasha.

On Jan. 23, the teen and his girlfriend were arrested together in Red Wing, Minn.

A police inspection of Sasha’s cellphone unearthed a video of her driving the victim’s car about 4½ hours before the shooting. She also sent a text to Williams' brother about the plot to “take him somewhere random and take him.”

Also on her cellphone was a video of her posing with a handgun. Its caption bragged in raw language that females can be killers, too.