Teen gets 20 years for shooting 2 Duluth clerks

A teenager convicted of shooting two Duluth store clerks in the back four years ago has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Eighteen-year-old Steven Albert Cooper had pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted first-degree murder. In exchange St. Louis County prosecutors recommended a single 20-year prison sentence instead of two.

According to the Duluth News Tribune, public defender Rebecca Shaw cited two psychologists Tuesday as saying Cooper could have been rehabilitated if he'd been kept in the juvenile system.

Prosecutors say Cooper had just turned 15 when he allegedly shot and wounded the clerks while robbing a convenience store in 2006.

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Each victim was shot three times and suffered a collapsed lung. Each man also has a bullet permanently lodged near his spine.

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Information from: Duluth News Tribune

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