A Minneapolis man has been sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after a minimum 30 years for fatally shooting a man in the head and leaving his body in a snowbank late January 31, 2021 in Inver Grove Heights.

Gabriel Alfonso Sanchez Cruz, 44, had been found guilty by a Dakota County jury of second-degree murder and first-degree murder while committing aggravated robbery.

The victim, 38-year-old Bryant Jon Lutgens, of Burnsville, was found dead in the snowbank around 8 a.m. the next morning.

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Inver Grove Heights police officers were dispatched to the 1300 block of 60th St. W. after a 911 caller reported discovering a deceased male’s body. The man, subsequently identified as Lutgens, appeared to have died of a gunshot wound to the head.