MINNEAPOLIS — Minneapolis police are in the middle of an active search for three people who are seen on video pulling a shooting victim out of a car and leaving him for dead.
MPD identified the victim as 23-year-old Deljuan Pendleton.
A Minneapolis investigator told KARE 11 that if those three suspects are arrested, crime would be drastically reduced not just in Minneapolis, but the entire Twin Cities.
Police say the three suspects in this case are in their 20s, and they are pursuing multiple leads in an effort to bring them to justice, while also offering some closure to a grieving family.
For Pendleton's mother, Sharitha Stroud, there aren't enough words to describe her third child of seven.
"Funny; a dancer; an athlete — just loving; supportive; encouraging. He was somebody special," said Stroud.
Police say Pendleton was shot in the back of the head and left for dead in an alley near Fremont and 26th Avenues North early last week.
The Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office said on Friday that Pendleton died due to a "gunshot wound of the head."
Surveillance video captured the moment the suspects got out of a silver SUV, which was reported stolen in a carjacking earlier that same day.
You can see one of the suspects grab Pendleton from the passenger seat, throwing his body to the ground face first.
He died at the hospital two days later.
When asked if Pendleton had any connection to the three individuals police are looking for, Stroud replied, "He wouldn't have just got in the car with someone that he didn't know. It had to be some friends or some people that he assumed was his friends."
Police believe the three men were associates of Pendleton's, and the car they were in didn't belong to any of the four people involved in this case.
Stroud says her son had just relocated to the Twin Cities from Atlanta earlier this year to live with his uncle.
"He told me he's ready to get his driver's license; he was saving up money. He was working with his best friend with his construction company. It just was like, he had a lot of positive things going on," explained Stroud.
Police say the car was later found torched in the Ericsson neighborhood of south Minneapolis, with the suspects nowhere to be found.
"I want them to be caught. I want people to speak up; I want justice for my son," said Stroud.
Police are asking anyone with information about Pendleton's murder to contact them.
In the meantime, a GoFundMe has been set up to help his family with funeral expenses, and to transport his body back to Atlanta.
Minneapolis police are asking anyone who recognizes any individual depicted in the photos and video to contact CrimeStoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).
Tips may be submitted at CrimeStoppersMN. All Tips are anonymous and persons providing information leading to an arrest and conviction may be eligible for a financial reward.
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