A man already serving time in federal prison has been charged with second-degree murder in connection with a 2020 drive-by shooting that killed an 18-year-old woman in south Minneapolis.
The case went unsolved for years before confessions from both suspects broke it open.
Namirilove Laqundas Tanner, 25, of Saint Paul, faces two counts of second-degree murder and one count of attempted second-degree murder in the death of Arionna Star Buckanaga. The complaint was filed April 8 in Hennepin County District Court and Tanner is currently in federal custody at a prison in Kentucky.
Malcom Chan Johnson, 33, was previously charged with second-degree murder in a separate case for his role in the same shooting.
According to the criminal complaint, Minneapolis police responded to a drive-by shooting near the intersection of East 39th Street and Cedar Avenue South around 11:25 p.m. on May 4, 2020. Officers found Buckanaga in the driver’s seat of a Ford Mustang that had crashed into a tree. She was slumped over the steering wheel with an apparent gunshot wound to her head. Her boyfriend was in the passenger seat and told officers he didn’t know who shot at them. Paramedics transported Buckanaga to a hospital, where she died from her injuries.
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Surveillance footage from a gas station at 1700 East Lake Street, about 1.2 miles north of the crime scene, showed the victims’ Mustang parked in the lot as they went inside the store. A tan Chevy Suburban parked nearby and its occupants stayed in the vehicle. When the Mustang left the lot, the Suburban immediately followed.
Officers found the abandoned Suburban about 1.4 miles east of the crime scene with bullet holes in its hood, consistent with the driver having fired over the hood and accidentally struck his own vehicle. Investigators recovered 32 discharged 9mm cartridge casings from the scene.
About two weeks later, on May 19, 2020, officers recovered two Glock 9mm handguns from a compost bin approximately eight blocks from the shooting. Firearms testing confirmed the two guns fired all 32 casings found at the scene.
DNA testing linked both men to the crime. Swabs from the Suburban’s steering wheel and driver’s side door matched Johnson’s DNA profile. Tanner’s DNA was found on other items inside the Suburban and on both firearms.
The case sat cold until March 2025, when a witness told police that Johnson had confessed to the shooting the day after it happened. The witness also provided corroborating details, including that Johnson had a known gang feud with Buckanaga’s boyfriend.
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Investigators interviewed Tanner at a federal prison in Kentucky on Feb. 17. According to the complaint, he confessed and said he was firing at the Mustang from the passenger seat of the Suburban while Johnson fired over the hood from the driver’s side. Tanner said they abandoned the Suburban and ditched the guns in a trash can.
Johnson was interviewed on March 4 and eventually confessed in a post-Miranda statement. He admitted to driving the Suburban and firing a 9mm handgun. Johnson said he thought Buckanaga’s boyfriend was in the car because of the gang feud but didn’t know Buckanaga was also inside. He said he did not mean to kill her.
Tanner’s bail was set at $1,000,000 with a nationwide warrant. Second-degree murder carries a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison.
