One of two teens charged in the fatal shooting of a St. Paul 19-year-old at the Mall of America was sentenced to 30½ years in prison Thursday.

TaeShawn Adams-Wright and LaVon Sema-J Longstreet “stalked and executed” 19-year-old Johntae Raymon Hudson — shooting him eight times in the back — while “surrounded by horrified holiday shoppers” in Nordstrom’s on Dec. 23, 2022, Hennepin County prosecutors wrote in a court filing this week.

Johntae Raymon Hudson was fatally shot Dec. 23, 2022, inside Nordstrom’s at the Mall of America. (Courtesy of GoFundMe)

In March, Adams-Wright, 19, of Minneapolis, pleaded guilty as charged to second-degree murder in Hudson’s killing and second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon for wounding a shopper. He faced up to 40 years in prison.

Hennepin County District Judge Paul Scoggin handed down Thursday’s sentence.

“Adams-Wright engaged in gun violence that endangered the lives of countless people as they enjoyed their day at the Mall of America,” Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said in a statement. “A long prison sentence is appropriate to sufficiently protect public safety.”

Longstreet, of Minneapolis, was 17 when he was charged in juvenile court with the same two counts as Adams-Wright, who was 18 when he was charged. A judge later certified Longstreet to adult court, and he is scheduled to be tried in front of a jury next week.

‘Touted’ the killing

Authorities say the shooting stemmed from an argument, the nature of which hasn’t been disclosed.

Citing surveillance video, the charges say Adams-Wright, Longstreet and three male accomplices chased Hudson, who was with two friends, on the first floor of the department store. A fight broke out and as Hudson tried to run he was knocked into multiple store displays. Customers and employees fled and hid.

Adams-Wright and Longstreet both stood over Hudson and fired their semiautomatic handguns, which were equipped with extended magazines, the charges say.

The group fled the store to a parked car nearby.

Hudson was pronounced dead at the scene, despite the lifesaving efforts of a witness, mall security and medics. Ballistics evidence showed Hudson fired his own gun twice, the charges say.

A woman who was in the store with her teenage daughter reported a bullet grazed her as she was on the floor taking cover.

After the shooting, Adams-Wright, Longstreet and the accomplices went to Longstreet’s aunt’s house, where they all “touted their responsibility” for Hudson’s killing on Snapchat, prosecutors say.

TaeShawn Adams-Wright and LaVon Sema-J Longstreet (Courtesy of the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office)

Within 12 hours, Bloomington police arrested Adams-Wright and he’s remained jailed since.

Longstreet went on the run to Decatur, Ga., where he was arrested by U.S. marshals nearly a month after the killing.

Other MOA incidents

The shooting was the third at the Bloomington mall in a span of just under a year, and the first homicide involving a gun.

It was the scene of a shooting on Dec. 31, 2021, when two men were wounded during an altercation.

Gunfire erupted during a fistfight in the Nike store in August 2022. No one was injured in that incident.

Three weeks later, a Woodbury man was arrested for robbing a kiosk and the Lids apparel store of items at the mall while carrying a long rifle.

RELATED: A behind-the-scenes look at MOA security

MOA bans guns on the premises, but does not have metal detectors upon entry. When the mall opened in 1992, it was not designed with metal detectors in mind, MOA officials say. There are 27 public entrances and, unlike venues that host a relatively limited number of events, the mall is open 363 days a year and up to 16 hours a day. About 32 million people visit the mall annually.

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“The warranty of habitability is implied in all New York residential leases, which means that all landlords—including NYCHA—are responsible for making sure apartments are livable and safe, and prolonged gas, heat, and electricity outages run counter to that duty.”

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A large cement truck drove through Red Hook West Houses the morning of Jan. 24. Moments later, emergency vehicles descended on the NYCHA development. “One of the construction workers hit something,” Red Hood resident Andrea Mcknight reported. That “something” turned out to be a gas line. To this day, gas service hasn’t been restored.

For the 113 Red Hook West households who depended on that gas line, fresh home cooked meals haven’t been an option since that January morning. Instead, residents trek to the deli, weather the surge in food expenses, and complain to an unresponsive management office. But this is not new. For NYCHA residents across the city, adjusting to utility disruptions has long been par for the course. 

Now, we have the numbers. As law students—in collaboration with Red Hook Community Justice Center (RHCJC)—we’ve spent the last year investigating whether New York law protects public and private tenants equally. Our analysis of the implied warranty of habitability—a particular part of the law—shows that public tenants aren’t as protected as they should be. We also requested data from NYCHA to zoom in on one piece of this puzzle: gas outages. Two data points illustrate the severity of the issue.

Between October 2017 and March 2024, there were 1,323 gas outages in NYCHA buildings (excluding currently pending outages), affecting 32,874 apartments. In 2023, 182 outages affected 5,239 apartments, which was slightly down from the year before, when 212 outages affected 5,887 apartments. The situation is particularly dire in NYCHA developments in Brooklyn and the Bronx, which together account for about 20,000 of the total affected apartments in the last six years.

Moreover, these outages too often take months to be resolved. Of the 1,323 outages captured in this data, 448 lasted for over 100 days. The longest was at the Wagner Houses in East Harlem, where tenants were left with a single hot plate for nearly two years from June 18, 2022 until March 1, 2024, when repairs were completed.

On average, these gas outages last 89 days, often with little to no communication from NYCHA property management about the gas line repair progress. NYCHA routinely refuses to provide tenants with notices or posted updates about utility service restoration even though a City Council law, Local Law 47 of 2015, requires all landlords, including public housing, to do so.

Every day without heat, cooking gas, or electricity is another day when devoted children, parents, and caretakers are forced to pay out of pocket to provide the bare essentials for their loved ones. 

State officials can provide crucial help to NYCHA tenants by amending New York State’s Public Housing Law. The NYCHA Utility Accountability Act (A2573/S546), which is currently pending in the New York Assembly Housing Committee, would reduce the rent tenants have to pay during outages.

The act would require that NYCHA credit tenants with either 10 percent of their rent, or $75 per month—whichever is higher—on a prorated basis for each day of a utility outage. This means, instead of paying for an apartment without utilities, residents can buy food for their families when their stove doesn’t work. Private landlords negotiate with tenants on rent during building utility outages, and this bill would cut through NYCHA’s bureaucracy to permit similar relief.

NYCHA has a responsibility for making sure tenants have essential utilities. The warranty of habitability is implied in all New York residential leases, which means that all landlords—including NYCHA—are responsible for making sure apartments are livable and safe, and prolonged gas, heat, and electricity outages run counter to that duty.

Outages in NYCHA developments across the city are unacceptable, and the thousands of tenants living in these houses without utilities deserve better. The New York State legislature has the opportunity to ease the burden on these residents: pass the NYCHA Utility Accountability Act.

Stephen Kpundeh and Janhavi Nemawarkar are students in the Community Advocacy Lab at Columbia Law School.

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The greatest player to put on a Minnesota United jersey has officially left the club.

Club Tijuana announced Thursday the addition of central attacking midfielder Emanuel Reynoso from MNUFC.

The Loons paid a club-record $5 million transfer fee for Reynoso from Boca Juniors in 2020 and will receive what might become a seven-figure return based on Reynoso’s contract incentives and performance qualifiers, a source told the Pioneer Press.

“We would like to thank Emanuel Reynoso for his time and contributions on the field with Minnesota United,” Chief Soccer Officer and Sporting Director Khaled El-Ahmad said in a statement. “The club wishes him the best in the future.”

MNUFC offloads Reynoso, who was insubordinate on multiple occasions, including five months during the 2023 season and for seven weeks this season. Reynoso’s actions this year damaged his relationship with El-Ahmad. When Reynoso returned to Minnesota in early May, he was put on a return-to-play protocol that would require him to be away from the team for the foreseeable future.

The Loons began shopping Reynoso to clubs in other leagues and the Reynoso’s departure opens up Designated Player spot going into summer transfer window. The Loons also free up salary; Reynoso was making $2.2 million in guaranteed compensation in 2024, according to MLS Players Association.

Reynoso was a two-time MLS All-Star who could dazzle with the ball on his left foot. He scored 24 goals and provided 37 assists in 95 MLS games.

Reynoso, 28, also dealt with legal issues. He was accused of pistol whipping a teenager and was just seen in a video holding a bag of cash with an unidentified man, who was holding the likeness of a handgun and more stacks of bills.