Toua Xiong
tried to run
from his
attackers,
but a gang
member shot
him in the
back,
according to
charges
filed
Friday.
"No," Toua
Xiong said
as he began
to run from
a group of
men who
surrounded
him just
after he
delivered a
pizza Sunday
night to a
north
Minneapolis
home.
He made
it only four
to five feet
from a
20-year-old
gang member
who a
witness saw
raise a
large, shiny
chrome
handgun and
fire a
single shot
into Xiong's
back.
That's
the account
of Xiong's
killing
detailed by
Hennepin
County
prosecutors
in
second-degree
murder
charges
filed Friday
against
Jermaine
Mack-Lynch
of
Minneapolis,
whom police
arrested
Tuesday.
"This
murder was
as senseless
as it gets,"
said
Hennepin
County
Attorney Amy
Klobuchar.
She said
the case
against
Mack-Lynch
will go
before a
grand jury
to consider
a
first-degree
murder
charge.
Around
sunset
Friday, more
than 100
people
gathered at
the Pizza
Hut at W.
Broadway and
Girard
Avenue N. --
where Xiong
had worked
for about
two years --
to begin a
candlelight
procession
to the north
Minneapolis
home where
he lived
with his
parents and
several
siblings.
Several
of his
family
members wore
white
T-shirts
printed with
a recent
studio
portrait of
the
20-year-old
man, his
birth and
death dates
and the
messages
"Rest in
peace" and
"We'll miss
you."
Since
Xiong's
death, "my
house has
been empty,
and my heart
has been
empty," his
mother, Mee
Vang, told
the crowd
through an
interpreter
soon after
the marchers
reached her
home.
On Sunday
night, he
was at the
end of his
shift when
his brother,
a manager of
the Pizza
Hut, sent
him on one
last
delivery for
the night to
the 2900
block of
Colfax
Avenue N.
Xiong
made the
delivery
about 9:30
p.m.
After he
was
confronted
and shot in
what police
believe was
a robbery
attempt, a
witness
reported
seeing a
group of
people --
Mack-Lynch
among them
-- running
from the
scene,
according to
the charges.
That
witness saw
the same
group walk
toward the
scene before
the killing,
the charges
said.
Investigators
at the scene
were alerted
to a spot on
the 2900
block of
Emerson
Avenue N.
where a
passer-by
had seen
three men
hiding. In
that area,
they found a
large chrome
.357
revolver,
the charges
said.
After his
arrest,
Mack-Lynch
told police
that he had
possessed a
large .357
chrome
revolver,
the same gun
he was seen
waving and
tucking into
his
waistband in
a recent
digital
video
recording
supplied to
police by a
witness, the
charges
said.
But
Mack-Lynch
told
investigators
that he gave
the gun to
other gang
members
before the
killing. The
others were
going to do
a "lick," or
a robbery,
the charges
said.
Police
have said
Mack-Lynch
is a member
of the
Tre-Tre
Crips gang,
one of three
gangs to be
targeted
aggressively
in north
Minneapolis
as part of
an
initiative
announced by
police this
week.
Mack-Lynch's
criminal
history
includes a
2003
conviction
for auto
theft while
he was still
a juvenile
and a
conviction
last year
for illegal
possession
of a
firearm.
Police
said Friday
that they
are still
questioning
other
witnesses
and possible
suspects in
Xiong's
killing. No
one else had
been
arrested.
Tom Ford •
612-673-4921
