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Des Moines, Iowa – Shooting injured a teenage girl Prosecutor Ol Salami said Friday that the rally of then-President Donald Trump could have been much worse.
26-year-old Michael McKinney was charged with attempted murder and other crimes in a shooting in which a 15-year-old girl was beaten in the foot. He later pleaded guilty to fewer crimes. At McKinney’s hearing on Monday, Salami said the victim, who was exchanging insults with Protrump rally participants, was standing on the open sunroof of the car when she was struck.
“If she had been sitting instead of standing, she would have been 16 and would have remained 16 forever,” he said.
The shooting took place on December 6 in the parking lot of the State Capitol, just east of the Iowa State Capitol. It followed a rally on the south side of the city hosted by the Pro Trump Group Women for America First for supporters who believed Trump had legitimately won the November elections. Minnesota entrepreneur Michael Lindell was a major supporter and speaker of the “Stop Stealing” movement.
After the rally, some supporters formed a parade into the Parliament complex. According to a search warrant submitted by police, four boys in another car accompanied the parade and exchanged blasphemous words.
One parade participant told The Associated Press that teens accused the people of the parade of being white supremacists and asked if they were engaged in welfare.
At least some teenagers, including those shot, were black, while McKinney and most other Trump supporters were white. Poke County lawyer John Sarkone refused to pursue the state’s hate crime charges, noting the AP that he would have ruled much shorter than the other charges filed.
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At the end of the parade, police reported that teens in their car were surrounded by parking lots by voice Trump supporters, reversing and hitting a pickup truck behind them.
At that point, Army veteran McKinney, who said police wore body armor and had some firearms, approached and shot into the car and hit the girl’s leg. According to the search warrant, he later told police, “I felt I was in danger and I was protecting myself, so I shot.”
McKinney was arrested on the scene and pleaded guilty to two charges in June. Intimidation and intentional injury from dangerous weapons. Both have been sentenced to up to 10 years in prison, and the first indictment must be sentenced to imprisonment, not probation or postponement, under Iowa law.
The prosecutor requested Judge Scott Beatty to have two consecutive terms for a total of up to 20 years.
“For those who are trying to claim this is natural, what they are unaware of is that the bullet may have bounced off someone and killed them-not just the victims and those in the car, but around them. People too, “he said. In this case, it will change the lives of young victims forever. “
In a statement filed with the court, the victim described the physical and mental scars he suffered from the shooting.
“I thought I would die the day I was shot. I didn’t know if I could walk again,” she wrote. “I’m a 16-year-old young woman who loves herself, but it’s hard to remember what happened on December 6, 2020 by looking at the scars,” he said.
McKinney, who has been detained since his arrest, also addressed the court, apologizing to the victims and wishing he could undo what had happened.
“I made a bad decision on this issue,” he said. “I’m really sorry, but I want to express it deeply and deeply.”
The judge referred to McKinney’s complete lack of criminal history and, as one of the facts in his favor, an honorable discharge from the military.
“I’m very honest. I’m still confused about how this happened,” Beatty said. “I understand that you are responsible. That is an important factor.”
Beattie chose to execute two statements at the same time for a total of up to 10 years. There are no mandatory minimum requirements for McKinney to serve before being eligible for parole.
Follow William Morris on Twitter. @DMRMorris
This article was originally published in The Des Moines Register: A man sentenced to 10 years in prison for teenage shooting after Donald Trump’s rally
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