Man is sentenced for his role in deadly gunfire unleashed in downtown Minneapolis at bar closing

A 30-year-old man has received a term of more than 11 years for his role in a barrage of deadly gunfire that was unleashed in a crowded downtown Minneapolis parking lot as bars were emptying one summer night two years ago.

Cleveland Cornell Longmire, of Brooklyn Center, was sentenced Tuesday in connection with the shooting on July 28, 2022, that killed 20-year-old Chante L. Williams, of St. Paul, and wounded two other people in the 300 block of N. 1st Avenue.

With credit for time in jail since his arrest, Longmire is expected to serve roughly 6¼ years in prison and the balance on supervised release.

The criminal complaint against Longmire identified the alleged shooter by name as “the principal codefendant,” but charges against him have yet to be made publicly available as of Wednesday afternoon. The Star Tribune generally does not identify suspects before charges are made public.

The court may have allowed that complaint to be filed under seal in order to give law enforcement time to arrest the suspect without alerting him that he’s been identified as a wanted man.

According to the charges against Longmire, the gunman “took out his cellphone and took a photograph of [Williams’] lifeless body.”

In January, Longmire was sentenced in federal court to 7½ years in prison after pleading guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm stemming from his actions on the night of the shooting. He will serve the two sentences concurrently.

sHis criminal history includes three first-degree aggravated robbery convictions in Ramsey County.

According to the criminal complaint:

Officers were dispatched in response to an altercation at a bar and saw a crowd in a parking lot next to Dulono’s sports bar. Two minutes later, they heard rapid gunfire and saw three people fall to the parking lot pavement after being shot, the complaint read.

Williams was shot seven times in the back and the back of the neck. The other victims were each hit five times by gunfire. Williams died at the scene. The other two survived.

Officers found nearly two dozen .40-caliber discharged cartridge casings near Williams’ body and three from a 9-millimeter gun. A loaded 9-millimeter handgun also was near him and appeared to not have been fired.

Also nearby was an SUV belonging to Longmire. Officers seized two Glock handguns from inside, one a .40-caliber and the other a 9-millimeter that DNA evidence tied to Longmire. The .40-caliber was outfitted with an “auto sear,” allowing it to fire multiple times with a single trigger squeeze.

Bar interior video images put Longmire and his accomplice, both suspected members of the same street gang, in the establishment during the altercation.