Man charged in 2020 killing of south Minneapolis teen

Nearly six years after 18-year-old mother Arionna Buckanaga was shot in the head while driving near 39th Street East and Cedar Avenue South, Hennepin County prosecutors have charged 33-year-old Minneapolis man Malcom Chan Johnson with murder. According to the criminal complaint, police tied an abandoned Chevy Suburban found a mile and a half from the scene — with bullet holes in the hood consistent with someone firing over it — and two Glock 9mm handguns recovered in a nearby compost bin to 32 shell casings at the shooting scene. DNA from the Suburban and firearms matched Johnson and another man, Namiri Tanner; in 2025 a witness told investigators Johnson had confessed and described a "gang feud" with Buckanaga’s boyfriend, who survived as a passenger in the Mustang. Tanner, interviewed in federal prison, admitted firing from the passenger seat while Johnson shot from the driver’s side, and Johnson told detectives on March 4, 2026 that he drove the Suburban and fired, claiming he meant to target the boyfriend and did not know Buckanaga was in the car. The late charges highlight how long some Minneapolis families wait for movement in homicide cases, even when forensics and witness accounts eventually converge.