On a Monday afternoon, November 23, 2020, the life of 19-year-old Staveonte El Brown, a Black/African American male, was cut short in the parking lot of a Cub Foods in Coon Rapids, Minnesota. What began as a meeting between two teenagers escalated into a fatal encounter that unfolded in the plain view of eyewitnesses.
Earlier that day, Staveonte arrived in the grocery store parking lot in a Hyundai Sante Fe, pulling up alongside a Pontiac Grand Prix driven by Vaughn Coklas, also 19. Staveonte then entered Coklas's vehicle, where a physical altercation erupted between the two. The fight was so intense that it moved from the confines of the car out into the open parking lot.
After the initial struggle, the two young men separated. Money had fallen from the car during the fight, and Staveonte bent down to pick it up. It was at this vulnerable moment that Coklas produced a handgun. Witnesses reported that Staveonte was not armed and was making no verbal or physical threats toward Coklas as he was shot in the chest. First responders arrived at the scene shortly after 4:30 p.m. to find Staveonte lying on the pavement; he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Bystanders who witnessed the shooting quickly pointed out the fleeing suspect to the arriving Coon Rapids police officers and Anoka County sheriff's deputies. The suspect, Vaughn Jarod Coklas, was apprehended nearby and taken to a hospital for minor injuries before being booked into jail. Coklas, an Andover resident, was subsequently charged with second-degree murder with intent. In December 2021, he pleaded guilty to the charge. In March 2022, a judge sentenced Coklas to 18 years in prison for the killing of Staveonte El Brown.
