Dale Henry Spry, a 63-year-old Marine Corps veteran, was tragically killed on September 2, 2026, in a mass shooting that unfolded at his Minneapolis apartment building. Remembered by his family as a jokester and a peacekeeper, Spry was one of two residents fatally shot that day inside the Shoreline Plaza apartment complex. The afternoon descended into chaos when a fellow resident, Carlton Neal Johnson II, 35, began a violent rampage. Johnson, who was reportedly facing eviction, initiated his attack during a custody exchange with the mother of his child outside the building before moving inside.
Once inside the apartment building, Johnson shot and injured two building employees. He then proceeded to the ninth floor, where he encountered and fatally shot Dale Spry and another resident, 61-year-old Muse A. Afrah. There is no indication that Johnson specifically targeted Spry or Afrah. The violent spree continued as Minneapolis police officers responded to the scene. Johnson exchanged gunfire with the officers, injuring three of them before he was ultimately shot and killed.
The investigation into the deadly shooting was taken over by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. The suspected shooter, Carlton Neal Johnson II, died at the scene from multiple gunshot wounds, and his death was ruled a homicide. Because the sole suspect was killed during the incident, there have been no arrests, and consequently, no trials, convictions, or sentences to follow. The case is a closed incident in terms of criminal prosecution, leaving the community to mourn the senseless loss of life, including that of Dale Henry Spry, a veteran who found himself in the path of a gunman's rage.
