Andover Man Gets 18 Years for 2020 Fatal Shooting in Coon Rapids
An Andover man was sentenced Monday to 18 years in prison for killing a 19-year-old outside a Coon Rapids grocery store in November 2020.
Vaughn Jarod Coklas, 20, was convicted of 2nd-degree murder for killing Staveonte El Brown and received a sentence of 216 months in prison with credit for 477 days already served.
Coklas pleaded guilty to the charge in Dec. 2021. His anticipated release date from prison is Nov. 29, 2032.
According to court documents, just after 4:30 p.m. on Nov. 23, 2020, officers responded to a report of a shooting in the parking lot of Cub Foods, 2050 Northdale Blvd., in Coon Rapids.
When officers got there, they found Brown, lying in the parking lot with a gunshot wound to the chest. First responders pronounced him dead at the scene within a few moments.
As they were arriving, bystanders directed officers to a male who was fleeing the scene. That male, later identified as Coklas, was eventually taken into custody nearby.
Officers then spoke with several eyewitnesses and learned that shortly before the shooting was reported, a red Pontiac Grand Prix—driven by Coklas—pulled into the parking lot.
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Moments later, a silver Hyundai Santa Fe pulled in next to the Grand Prix, with Brown moving from the passenger seat of the Santa Fe into the front passenger seat of the Grand Prix.
Witnesses said a fight between the two men broke out inside the Grand Prix, which then spilled out of the driver’s door and into the parking lot. Witnesses reported that the men then separated from each other, with Brown starting to pick up money which had also fallen out of the car and onto the ground.
One of the witnesses described that as he was watching Brown picking up the money, and as Brown was still partially bent over, Coklas produced a handgun and closed some of the short distance between the two. Coklas then shot Brown, who was later found to be unarmed.
In her departure report for aggravated sentencing against Coklas, Judge Melissa M. Saterbak wrote that there were "substantial and compelling" reasons to seek a longer sentence than set by state guidelines. Judge Saterbak wrote that Coklas committed the offense in a particularly serious way.
"He got into a fight in a busy grocery store parking lot at approximately 4:30 p.m. with several bystanders nearby," Judge Saterbak wrote in the report. "He shot and killed the victim outside in the parking lot where he could have easily injured/shot/killed bystanders."
Saterbak also noted the negative psychological impact on the numerous witnesses of the homicide.
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