On a Tuesday evening in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on June 13, 2017, the life of 17-year-old Austin James Owen Young, a White male, was tragically cut short. The night began with a plan for Young and another individual to sell marijuana to two women in the Jordan neighborhood of North Minneapolis. The arranged meeting took a fatal turn when the two women returned to Young's SUV accompanied by three men.
The situation quickly escalated into an armed robbery.
One of the men, later identified as 18-year-old Armajea Warren, allegedly brandished a handgun, pointed it at Young, and demanded his belongings. A person in the passenger seat of the SUV attempted to intervene by pushing the gun away. It was at this moment that another of the men, identified as 18-year-old Terry Gibson, allegedly pulled out his own handgun and fired the shot that struck Young.
In the ensuing chaos, the companion in the passenger seat desperately tried to drive the SUV away from the scene. He managed to grab the steering wheel and press the accelerator, but the vehicle ultimately crashed into several parked cars on the 2600 block of Knox Avenue North. The three male suspects fled before police arrived. When officers responded to reports of the crash just after 10:30 p.m., they discovered Young unresponsive in the driver's seat. Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene from a gunshot wound.
In the days that followed, an investigation led to the arrests of those believed to be responsible. Armajea Warren and Terry Gibson were both charged with second-degree murder. A third individual, 18-year-old Sequoia Bulson-Bratton, one of the women who initially met with Young, also faced a charge of second-degree murder. Investigators learned that the robbery was premeditated, with one of the suspects allegedly targeting Young because he was believed to be carrying a significant amount of money.
