Friend of Jamar Clark protest shooter sentenced to jail

One of the men who was with Allen Scarsella the night Scarsella shot and wounded five men near a 2015 Black Lives Matter protest was sentenced Wednesday to several months in jail, though he'll be allowed to work during the day and spend his nights behind bars.

Nathan Gustavsson will also serve a minimum of five years of probation. A self-proclaimed gun enthusiast, he's banned for life from owning or possessing firearms in Minnesota because he is a convicted felon.

Gustavsson accompanied Scarsella to north Minneapolis where demonstrators protesting the police shooting of Jamar Clark were encamped outside the 4th Precinct police station. Gustavsson admitted that he knew on the night of the shooting that his friend Scarsella was carrying a firearm, and that he knew someone could get hurt that night.

By the end of the evening, five men would go to the hospital with gunshot wounds.

Scarsella, who is white, testified during his trial that he fired at the men, who are all African-American, out of self-defense. He is serving a 15-year prison sentence.

Gustavsson in June pleaded guilty to second-degree riot and one count of aiding an offender. None of the five men shot and wounded in the Nov. 23, 2015 incident appeared in court to give victim statements in Gustavsson's case.

Gustavsson's sentence is for 240 days but with credit for time served and time off for good behavior he'll likely serve 107 days, said his defense attorney, Robert Jones.

Jones said he thought Wednesday's sentence was fair, considering what he called Gustavsson's minor role in the shooting. He called his client "young, immature and naive."

Gustavsson made a tearful apology to the court.

"I'm sorry to the victims and their families," said Gustavsson. "I'm ashamed anyone was ever hurt."

Turning to Judge Hilary Caligiuri, he said, "I don't ask you for your mercy ... I ask for a second chance."