Driver of minivan in fatal shooting sentenced to 195 months in prison

A Brooklyn Park man was sentenced to 195 months in prison for his involvement in a fatal shooting, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced Friday.

In October, Isaiah Rakeem Wallace, 21, pleaded guilty to aiding an offender as an accomplice after the fact and was sentenced Thursday morning to just over 16 years in prison.

According to the criminal complaint, on May 11, 2017, Minneapolis police were called to a shooting at 36th Avenue North and 6th Street North. Roderick Evans, 40, was found lying in the street with a fatal bullet wound to his chest.

Witnesses told police that Evans and several other people were outside a home near the intersection when a light blue minivan pulled up. The rear sliding door was open and the backseat passenger was wearing a black ski mask. As the van drove through the intersection, the masked man opened fire, shooting nine times at the group of people.

Officers pursued the van and stopped it just blocks from the murder scene and arrested Wallace, who was the driver. The passenger in the backseat ran away. The murder weapon was found in the van, along with two other firearms and the ski mask.

In court, Wallace admitted to driving the minivan and lying to police when he said he did not know the 22-year-old shooter, Stevevontae Dellshawn Champion. That obstructed the investigation. Yesterday, at his sentencing, Wallace said he accepted responsibility for his role, but didn’t think he deserved the time in prison that he is receiving.

Champion was sentenced in September to more than 32 years in prison for Evan’s murder.