On a cold Friday night in March, the kind of evening that still clings to the dregs of winter, 32-year-old White/Caucasian male Thomas John Russ of Minneapolis found himself at a park-and-ride ramp in Minnetonka. It was March 3, 2017, and what began as a simple errand to fix a flat tire would end in a sudden and violent tragedy. Russ was at the Metro Transit ramp off Interstate 394 with his girlfriend, her brother Marcus Hallmark, and another woman.
The group had driven to the parking
structure where a car Hallmark had borrowed sat disabled with a flat tire. While the two women remained in one vehicle, Russ and Hallmark set about the task of changing the tire. In an abrupt turn of events, the sound of a loud bang shattered the relative quiet of the parking ramp. The women looked over to see Russ on the ground. They then witnessed Hallmark bend over and fire a second shot before he fled into the nearby woods. Thomas John Russ was pronounced dead at the scene, having sustained two gunshot wounds to the head.
A manhunt ensued, and within hours, police located and arrested 25-year-old Marcus Hallmark of Columbia Heights. He was discovered hiding in a marshy area near the crime scene. Investigators also recovered a handgun in the vicinity. Hallmark, who had a significant criminal history including convictions for burglary and assault, was subsequently charged with second-degree murder.
The case proceeded to trial, and in February 2018, a Hennepin County jury found Marcus Allen Wayne Hallmark guilty of both first and second-degree murder in the death of Thomas John Russ. The jury deliberated for less than two hours before reaching their verdict. For his crime, Hallmark was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
