Tommie McCoy

Tommie McCoy, a 51-year-old Black/African American man from Chicago, was on the verge of a new beginning. In early 2020, he had traveled to Minneapolis, Minnesota, to finalize new housing and was staying temporarily at the Salvation Army. His family remembered him as a beloved son, brother, father, and grandfather who loved spending time with them. His sister called him her protector and the glue that held their family together.

On the evening of February 6, 2020, McCoy boarded a Metro Transit C-Line bus in downtown Minneapolis. As the bus neared 1st Avenue and 9th Street, another passenger, 26-year-old Malcolm James Lessley, engaged him in a brief conversation. According to police who reviewed surveillance footage, Lessley then pulled out a handgun and shot McCoy in the face. As Lessley exited the bus, he shot a second man in the head. Tommie McCoy was pronounced dead at the scene. The second victim was rushed to a hospital in critical condition but was expected to survive.

Police officers arrested Malcolm Lessley a few blocks away from the scene a short time later and recovered a 9mm handgun from his waistband. He was charged with second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder, and his bail was set at $2 million. Investigators learned that Lessley had a history of mental illness, including a diagnosis of schizophrenia. In the year prior to the shooting, he had been found incompetent to stand trial after being accused of pointing a gun at a cab driver.

In March 2020, a judge again found Lessley incompetent to stand trial for the bus shooting. His family expressed their sorrow and stated that the mental health system had failed to provide him with the help he needed, a failure they believed led to the tragedy. McCoy’s family, while devastated by what they called a senseless act, also showed compassion. His mother expressed sadness for Lessley, whose life was also forever changed, and Lessley’s family reached out to the McCoys to offer their apologies.

After legal proceedings resumed, Malcolm Lessley, then 29, pleaded guilty in May 2022 to one count of second-degree murder and one count of second-degree attempted murder. The following month, a Hennepin County District Court judge sentenced him to over 26 years, or 320 months, in prison. At his sentencing, Lessley apologized to the McCoy family, stating that his "mind wasn’t right" and he had acted out of fear. The case was closed with his sentencing in June 2022.