Minn. Man Sentenced To 15 Years For Shooting BLM Protesters

A Minnesota judge sentenced Allen Scarsella to 15 years in prison out of a possible 20 for shooting five Black Lives Matter protesters back in 2015. The shooting took place outside of Minneapolis’ 4th Precinct police station as demonstrators gathered because of the shooting death of Jamar Clark who was killed by police.

According to reports, Hennepin County prosecutors pushed for the maximum sentence while Scarsella’s defense attorney pleaded with the judge for probation. Laura Heinrich said Scarsella was unaware of life for African-Americans on the north side of Minneapolis, and at the time of the shooting he was 22 years old so his brain wasn’t fully developed when he wore a mask and went to the precinct to live stream the demonstration and eventually shoot people.

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Scarsella, who has been in jail for 18 months, addressed the judge and expressed remorse for his actions.”The fact that others were injured because of something I did weighs heavily on my heart every day,” Scarsella said. “The incident touched so many lives and everybody who was involved is now worse off for it.”

The judge however didn’t buy his admission and agreed with prosecutors that he’s a racist citing messages sent to friends leading up to the shooting. Jamar Clark’s cousin, Cameron Clark, who was shot said Scarsella’s sentencing is still not enough.

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“I can’t do a lot of things with my kids anymore, I can’t work,” Clark said. “I’m going to be living with this for the rest of my life.”