DOJ Seal

Department of Justice

U.S. Attorney's Office
District of Minnesota

For Immediate Release

Monday, March 14, 2022
Charles J. Kovats
, United States Attorney

Minneapolis Man Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison for Violent Armed Robbery of a Minneapolis Business

Store clerk was shot and killed during the robbery

ST. PAUL, Minn. – A Minneapolis man has been sentenced to 360 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for an armed Hobbs Act robbery that resulted in the shooting death of a store clerk. Acting U.S. Attorney Charles J. Kovats made the announcement after Senior U.S. District Judge Donovan W. Frank sentenced the defendant.

According to court documents, on April 27, 2021, Marlow Ramsey Carson, 31, robbed the Blue Sky Wireless and West Bend Furniture stores located in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis. During the robbery, Carson stuck a handgun under a plexiglass barrier on the counter and demanded money from the store clerk. When Carson attempted to get behind the counter, the store clerk tried to shut the door to keep Carson out. Carson shot the store clerk in the chest from pointblank range before running out of the store into a car parked on the street and fleeing from the scene. The store clerk was transported by ambulance to the emergency room where he was later pronounced dead from the gunshot wound.

On December 10, 2021, Carson pleaded guilty to one count of interference with commerce by robbery and one count of possession of ammunition as a felon. Carson has prior felony convictions and is therefore prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition at any time.

This case was the result of an investigation conducted by the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Minneapolis Police Department.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Harry M. Jacobs and Samantha H. Bates prosecuted the case.

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St. Paul Field Division