On a Sunday evening in August 2017, the life of 28-year-old Anthony Hill-Prowell, a Black / African American male, was cut short by gunfire in a north Minneapolis home. The incident unfolded on August 13, 2017, in the 3500 block of Emerson Avenue North. Police were called to the residence around 7:20 p.m. and discovered Hill-Prowell inside, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.
He was rushed to North Memorial Medical Center but ultimately succumbed to his injuries that night.
The investigation into the homicide quickly pointed to two individuals. Minneapolis police identified 29-year-old Antwion Demon Crawford and 32-year-old Kevin Lemar Jones as suspects and issued warrants for their arrest on charges of second-degree murder. The search for the two men crossed state lines, and just two days after the shooting, on August 15, 2017, both Crawford and Jones were apprehended by police in Omaha, Nebraska. Minneapolis investigators traveled to Omaha to interview the suspects and begin the process of extraditing them back to Minnesota to face the charges.
The motive behind the fatal shooting appears to have been a drug deal gone wrong. Jones and his friend, Crawford, had made arrangements to purchase marijuana from Hill-Prowell at his girlfriend's home, where the shooting occurred. During the encounter, a struggle ensued over a backpack, and Hill-Prowell was shot. Though Hill-Prowell initially named "Antwion" as the person who shot him, further investigation and witness testimony pointed to Jones as the gunman. A witness identified Jones as the man who shot Hill-Prowell, and surveillance footage captured him running from the scene. Ultimately, Kevin Lemar Jones was convicted of first-degree felony murder and sentenced to life in prison for his role in the death of Anthony Hill-Prowell.
