Man gets life for killing Minneapolis woman as he targeted rival
Updated: 5:54 p.m. | Posted: 1:32 p.m.
A man found guilty of killing a Twin Cities woman in a random north Minneapolis shooting was sentenced Monday to life in prison without possibility of parole.
Joshua Ezeka, 22, killed Birdell Beeks on May 26, 2016 as the 58-year-old sat in her minivan at an intersection. Prosecutors said Ezeka opened fire nine times on the street trying to take out a rival gang member.
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The medical examiner's office found that the bullet went through Beeks' arm and into her chest, where it severed a major artery. Beeks' last words to her granddaughter in the passenger seat were, 'Baby, they got me.'
The shooting shocked the city. A jury last month found Ezeka guilty of five felony charges, including murder.
Ezeka's lawyers during the trial did not contest that Ezeka was the shooter but argued he was just trying to scare his rival during the shooting that killed Beeks. The prosecution countered that Ezeka made a number of "intentional and deliberate choices" that led up to Beeks' death, and that the evidence showed he was shooting to kill, even though he missed his intended target.
At sentencing, Hennepin County District Judge Tamara Garcia asked why Ezeka felt compelled to shoot at all, since the man's intended target did not have an explanation. "No one seems to know what started this deadly rivalry," Garcia said. "Yet apparently young men are willing to kill and die for it. For nothing."
A campaign for justice from her family included reward offers and public pleas for information. Birdell Beeks' daughter Sa'Lesha testified during the trial that her mother was a "pillar of the community."
At Monday's sentencing, Birdell Beeks' family filled one side of the courtroom. They had attended every day of the trial.
Sa'Lesha Beeks described to the court how her mother's loss affected her. She said the "foolishness" of fighting over things like gang territory needs to stop. She doesn't believe Ezeka has shown any remorse.
"We left a poster directly on the light pole in front of his house that he had to look at every single day. He never came forward," Beeks said. "You can't tell me there's a sense of remorse when you're looking at her face every day."
She said she'll continue to work on behalf of victims of violence.
"There's too much of this going on in Minneapolis," Beeks said. "I will never stop, and I will always reach out to a family who has lost someone in the same way that we have."
Ezeka declined to speak at his sentencing.