Fugitive suspect in Mall of America killing arrested in Georgia; mother accused of driving him there

Nick Woltman, Pioneer Press
Updated ·2 min read

Authorities have apprehended a second teenage suspect in last month’s fatal shooting of a St. Paul man at the Mall of America in Bloomington, police say.

Lavon Semaj Longstreet, 17, was arrested around noon Tuesday by U.S. marshals in Decatur, Ga., where he has been staying since the day after 19-year-old Johntae Raymon Hudson was gunned down at Nordstrom on Dec. 23, Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges said during a late afternoon news conference.

Longstreet and 18-year-old Taeshawn Adams-Wright, who was arrested on Dec. 24, both face murder charges in Hudson’s death.

Also arrested Tuesday, in Golden Valley, was Longstreet’s mother, 39-year-old Erica McMillian, who allegedly drove her son to Georgia to help him evade capture, as well as two Georgia residents, who police say were sheltering Longstreet, according to Hodges.

“I said anybody that helps him is going to get locked up,” Hodges said.

“Your son killed somebody and you drive him to Georgia. … You cannot drive some somebody who murdered somebody out of state, even if it’s your son.”

Longstreet remains jailed in Dekalb County, Ga., pending extradition proceedings, Hodges said. He did not explain how authorities tracked Longstreet to Georgia. Minnesota authorities have said they plan to prosecute him as an adult.

The fatal shooting, which prompted an hourlong lockdown at the crowded mall during the busy holiday shopping season, began with an argument between two groups of young men in the Nordstrom department store, police say. The nature of the argument hasn’t been publicly disclosed by investigators.

Longstreet and Adams-Wright are accused of chasing Hudson through the store with semiautomatic handguns and shooting him eight times as he lay on the floor returning fire, charges say.

Adams-Wright was arrested the next day, along with two juveniles who have been charged with second-degree riot in connection with the shooting. At the time of his arrest, Adams-Wright had an active warrant related to an alleged second-degree assault in Stearns County, Minn.

Shell casings recovered near Hudson’s body were matched to those found at shooting scenes in St. Paul and Minneapolis over the last year and a half, Hodges said.

Hudson’s death was the mall’s first firearm homicide since it opened in 1992, according to Hodges. However, it was the latest in a string of incidents that have prompted officials to implement tighter security measures at the mall, the nation’s largest.

In August, gunfire erupted at the mall following a confrontation in the Nike store. No one was injured in that incident, and five people were charged. A few weeks later, a man armed with a rifle robbed the Lids apparel store. A shooting in December 2021 on New Year’s Eve left two people injured during an altercation in a public area of the mall.

Frederick Melo contributed to this report.

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