Bemidji man sentenced to more than 8 years in prison for violent armed carjackings

Nov. 1—MINNEAPOLIS — Justin Lee Brun, 22, of Bemidji, has been sentenced to a total of 99 months in prison for his involvement in a string of violent armed robberies during two separate carjacking incidents.

The sentence, issued by Judge Juan Hoyos in Hennepin County District Court on Monday, October 28, consolidates Brun’s time in custody on both 2021 and 2022 armed carjacking convictions.

The first incident occurred on March 23, 2021, outside Granite City Apartments in Brooklyn Center.

According to the criminal complaint, Brun and a juvenile accomplice approached the victim, referred to in the complaint as ASF, after asking for directions.

When ASF started to hand over his car keys, Brun shot him multiple times, wounding his leg, arm and torso. Both suspects then fled in the victim’s vehicle, which was later recovered with evidence linking Brun to the crime through fingerprints and surveillance footage.

The second carjacking happened almost a year later, on February 15, 2022, in Minneapolis. According to court documents, Brun and his accomplices surrounded a parked vehicle, threatened the victim at gunpoint and demanded the car keys, with Brun allegedly threatening to “blow her brains out” if she hesitated.

The suspects fled and led police on a high-speed chase before the vehicle struck a snowbank. Police found a sawed-off shotgun with both live and spent bullets inside, the documents said.

In connection with the 2022 case, the Hennepin County sentencing order specifies that Brun received 88 months for aggravated robbery (count 2), to be served at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in St. Cloud, and 48 months for aggravated robbery ( count 1). served concurrently with the 88-month term.

Judge Hoyos ordered that the 88-month sentence for the 2022 case be served in addition to Brun’s 2021 sentence for theft, bringing his total prison sentence to 99 months, with 1,167 days to be served from the Oct. 28 sentencing.

Brun’s sentence, which totals eight years and three months, includes conditions of supervised release, as stated in the verdict. These include a lifetime ban on firearms ownership and restrictions on traveling without permission.