A man who killed three people by opening fire at a Minneapolis homeless encampment and was shot the next day during an encounter with St. Paul police has been sentenced to 86½ years in prison.
Earl Bennett (Courtesy of the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office)
Hennepin County District Judge Hilary Caligiuri gave Earl Bennett, 42, of Minneapolis, three consecutive prison terms on Wednesday after a jury in December found him guilty of three counts of second-degree murder in the shootings of Christopher Martell Washington, 38, Louis Mitchell Lemons Jr., 32, and Samantha Jo Moss, 35, in Minneapolis’ Hiawatha neighborhood on Oct. 27, 2024.
The judge followed a recommendation by a Hennepin County probation officer, who did a presentence investigation, and the urging of prosecutors to hand down the 1,038-month prison term.
Prosecutors said Bennett, wearing a balaclava-type mask, stepped into a tent at a small homeless encampment in the 4400 block of Snelling Avenue, behind railroad tracks and near Hiawatha Avenue, about 2:20 p.m. He asked for Washington, then started firing. Washington was shot in his neck and thigh. Lemons was hit in his neck and back of his head. Both men were pronounced dead at the scene. Moss was shot in the head, shoulder and hand, and died of her injuries six days later.
The killings were “intentional, brazen and violent, occurring in broad daylight near numerous witnesses,” a presentence investigation report said. “These victims had no warning or opportunity to protect themselves or flee before (Bennett) executed all three.”
Video showed Bennett “casually leave the encampment and ride his e-bike away from the scene,” prosecutors wrote last week in a sentencing memo to the judge. “(Bennett) gave no thought to the people he just murdered or their friends who would inevitably find victims’ lifeless bodies.”
A day after the triple shooting, at about 5:15 p.m., police responded to reports that a resident at a Minneapolis sober living house had shot another resident in the neck. Two people said Bennett was the shooter.
Less than three hours later, at 7:45 p.m., St. Paul police officers responding to a shots-fired call at Snelling and University avenues encountered a shirtless man, later identified as Bennett, walking and holding a handgun, which police say he wouldn’t drop, despite commands to do so and non-lethal rounds fired at him.
Bennett held the gun to his own head and pointed it at officers, according to city surveillance camera footage released by police. Four officers responded by firing a total of 31 rounds at Bennett, 15 of which struck him. He was treated at Regions Hospital for injuries that resulted in the amputation of one of his legs.
Related Articles
Barbara McQuade: How to safeguard the DOJ against the next Trump
St. Paul man gets probation for copper wire thefts that cost the city $200K in repairs
Report: Young offenders more likely to stay out of trouble under new Ramsey County initiative
Local journalist and activist plead not guilty in St. Paul church protest
Burnsville woman admits to fatally shooting 70-year-old, trying to cover up killing
The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office determined that the four officers were justified in their actions.
The Sig Sauer 9mm handgun that Bennett dropped after he was shot was reported stolen from a truck in Apple Valley two days earlier. It was a match to casings found at the encampment and sober house shootings.
Bennett still faces first-degree attempted murder in connection with the sober house shooting, and second-degree assault and possession of a firearm by a person convicted of a crime of violence for his encounter with St. Paul police.
Bennett was prohibited from having a gun because of felony robbery convictions in St. Louis, Mo., in 2003. He was sentenced to 12 years prison and moved to Minnesota after his release. He then had an encounter with law enforcement in 2015 that nearly led to him being shot by a Ramsey County sheriff’s deputy after attempting to disarm another deputy at Regions Hospital. He received a four-year prison term.
Leave a Reply