McInnis guilty of murdering two, including a baby

A Hennepin County District Court judge found Jquan McInnis guilty of two counts of first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of a man and a baby, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced Tuesday.

McInnis, 19, fatally shot 20-year-old Gustav Christianson II and seven-month old Jayden Redden, both of Minneapolis. The stipulated evidence trial was heard by Judge Jeannice Reding with both prosecutors and defense attorneys agreeing Sept. 24 on 249 exhibits for the judge to review in making her decision. Both sides submitted written closing arguments Oct. 29 and Judge Reding informed the lawyers of her verdict Monday.

She will issue her findings of facts and conclusions sometime next week and after that a sentencing date will be set. McInnis, who is 19, but was 17 at the time, was indicted by a grand jury. Being under 18 at the time of the murders will have an impact on his sentence, since U.S. Supreme Court rulings have added new requirements before a juvenile can be sentenced to life without parole, which is what an adult would receive in a first-degree murder conviction.

On Oct. 9, 2016, McInnis was riding in a car near 26th Street East and 11th Avenue South when he saw Christianson, with whom he had a previous dispute. McInnis, who was armed with a 9 mm handgun, told the driver to circle the block and he got out of the car more than a block away. McInnis cut through back yards until he got to the car where Christianson was sitting in the back seat.

The back driver’s side door was open and witnesses saw McInnis standing next to it, firing into the back seat. He then walked around and fired one more shot through the car’s back window before running away.

The infant was in the car, strapped into a baby seat. The baby’s father, who also was in the car, pulled the car seat out of the car and ran with it, and his wounded baby, towards Children’s Hospital and at the end of the block saw paramedics, who treated Redden in the ambulance and drove to the hospital. Redden died a short time later.