MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – An 18-year-old Minneapolis man who was one of three accused in the January shooting death of Stanley Rogers was found guilty in Hennepin County Court on Wednesday.
Gary Tyrone Griffin was found guilty of second-degree murder and attempted first-degree aggravated robbery in connection with the incident. Lordiss Stewart, 17 of Blaine, pleaded guilty to attempted aggravated robbery last month and Ladell Johnson, 19 of Minneapolis, has a court hearing on Monday.
According to court documents, Minneapolis Police responded to a report of shots fired at about 9:50 p.m. on Jan. 21 on 37th Street East in an alley between Third Avenue South and Clinton Avenue South. When authorities arrived to the scene, they found a van against a garage with its engine running and Rogers dead from gunshot wounds.
A criminal complaint states that Stewart told Griffin that Rogers was coming to pick her up and that he often has crack cocaine and money on him. Griffin said he wanted to rob Rogers as soon as he got there, but Stewart told him to wait until she returned with Rogers. She sent Griffin a text message as they were approaching the house where Stewart was staying.
Griffin, despite his family’s plea to allow him to be home during the holidays on an electronic monitoring device, will remain in the Hennepin County Jail until he is sentenced on Jan. 12. His attorney said he will likely get more than 25 years in prison.
