Charlie Johnson was 21 when he was killed in downtown Minneapolis in the early morning hours of May 22, 2021, just hours before he was scheduled to graduate from the University of St. Thomas with a degree in mechanical engineering. Walking with a friend near the Monarch nightclub, he was struck in the back by a stray bullet during a gunfire exchange between two men just before 2 a.m., and later died. Another man, Christopher Jones, was also killed and several people were wounded in the incident.

The Minneapolis Police Department investigated the shooting, which led to the arrest of Jawan C. Carroll; in October 2022 Carroll was found guilty on two counts of second-degree murder for the deaths of Johnson and Jones and on seven counts of attempted second-degree murder, and in December 2022 he was sentenced to 69 years in prison. Johnson’s family later established The Charlie Fund, a study abroad fund at the University of St. Thomas in his memory.

If anyone witnessed the shooting near the Monarch nightclub or has information about the events that night, please share what is known.