Woman sentenced in fatal Minneapolis convenience store shooting

A woman will spend more than eight years in prison after being convicted for the shooting death of 40-year-old Kenneth Johnson inside a convenience store in Minneapolis.

Misti Dawn Nelson, 29, was charged with, pleaded guilty to and convicted of one count of second-degree murder.

The shooting happened on Dec. 30, 2023, at 3:45 a.m. at the Mr. Santana convenience store on the 600 block of University Avenue Southeast.

Charging documents state a caller reported a fight involving 10 people inside the store, shots were fired and someone was lying in the street. Police arrived and found Johnson suffering from a gunshot wound to his abdomen. He was taken to a hospital but died within the hour.

Surveillance video captured the fight, showing Johnson was outside when the fight actually started but quickly entered and became involved. Nelson, meanwhile, got stuck in the middle of the group with her sister, then pulled out a gun and started hitting one of the women who had shown up with Johnson, who tried to push Nelson away from the woman, according to court documents.

They add Nelson was pushed out of the store by the group and her sister was punching the women who were with Johnson while he was fighting with another woman. Nelson’s sister then apparently tried to get the group out of the store and Nelson waved her gun at the group.

Eventually, Nelson opened the door from outside the store and fired a shot into the group before being pushed outside. As Johnson walked out behind her, Nelson shot him again, the complaint states.

Eight hours after the incident, Nelson turned herself in to police through a family member, along with her gun. In a Miranda statement to police, she admitted to shooting at Johnson two times, the complaint says, saying she did so because she had been hit in the face during the fight, he was bigger than her and she was worried about her sister getting hurt.