In the early hours of a Sunday morning in Minneapolis, a burst of violence cut short the life of a young man. Just after 2:30 a.m. on December 3, 2023, 20-year-old Ty'Shawn Maurice Lyons, a Black male from Rochester, was with friends in a parking lot near West Lake Street and Grand Avenue South when shots were fired from a moving vehicle. Struck in the head by a bullet, Lyons was rushed to Hennepin Healthcare with life-threatening injuries.
He fought for his life for three days before succumbing to his injuries on Wednesday, December 6, 2023. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office officially ruled his death a homicide caused by a gunshot wound to the head.
The investigation into the shooting that claimed Ty'Shawn Lyons' life is entangled with a larger, ongoing federal probe into the violent rivalry between two Minneapolis street gangs, the "Lows" and the "Highs." Authorities have identified Lyons as a member or associate of the "Lows" street gang. In the wake of the shooting, federal agents arrested an alleged fellow "Lows" gang member, Ramone Dizahn Jackson. According to an affidavit from an ATF agent, video footage from the incident shows Jackson discharging his own firearm during the drive-by shooting. While Jackson was present and armed, it has not been specified that he fired the fatal shot. He faces federal charges including fentanyl distribution and various firearm offenses as part of the broader investigation into the gang conflict.
At the time of his death, Lyons himself was reportedly a person of interest in a separate, unrelated shooting that had occurred weeks prior. In that incident, which took place on November 6, 2023, one man was killed in what police believe was a targeted ambush connected to the same gang rivalry. While another individual has been charged in that case, authorities had identified Lyons as a third person believed to be involved. As of early 2024, no arrests directly for the murder of Ty'Shawn Maurice Lyons had been announced, and the investigation into the specific circumstances of the drive-by shooting remains active.
