Minneapolis Man Takes 40-Year Plea Deal After Fatally Shooting Brooklyn Park Man
A Minneapolis man is facing 40 years in prison after killing a Brooklyn Park man last year.
According to the Hennepin County Attorney’s office, Dajohn Yarborough, 32, accepted a plea deal this week for shooting 28-year-old Darrell Sims II.
Yarborough admitted to shooting Sims outside of a south Minneapolis apartment in April 2022.
According to court documents, in exchange for his guilty plea and a 40-year sentence, the attorney’s office agreed not to pursue first-degree murder charges in the case.
Per the criminal complaint, investigators believe that Sims was standing outside an apartment near the intersection of 24th Street and Elliott Avenue South on April 2, 2022. Yarborough approached Sims on foot, then began firing gunshots at him, the complaint said.
Sims attempted to run away but collapsed nearby. Police later found him with multiple gunshot wounds to the chest.
EMTs transported Sims to Hennepin County Medical Center, where he later died.
Police found 10 spent shell casings at the scene of the shooting.
Informants and officials with the Minnesota Department of Corrections later identified Yarborough through security camera footage. He had been released from prison on a separate charge and “had absconded from supervision in January 2022,” according to the criminal complaint.
Yarborough Arrested in Arizona After Killing Brooklyn Park Man
Law enforcement officials later arrested Yarborough in Arizona in July 2023 for murder and illegal possession of a firearm.
He was sent back to Minnesota and booked in the Hennepin County Jail on Aug. 1.
Yarborough has been out of jail on bail since Aug. 26, according to Hennepin County Jail records.
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said he’ll now be held without bail until his sentencing hearing in November.
“This was a senseless and devastating tragedy,” Moriarty said. “We will hold those who commit violent crimes accountable and incapacitate them with long prison sentences when it is necessary to protect the community. My thoughts are with the victim’s loved ones, I hope this guilty plea will help them on the path toward healing.”
According to the criminal complaint, Yarborough has past convictions for assault and drug possession.
“He has previously been the subject of ten or more bench warrants,” the complaint reads. “Prison records reflect at least six instances of absconding from supervised release.”
A second man, 35-year-old Brian Swearegene, of Minneapolis, has pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting second-degree murder in the case.
