Minneapolis man sentenced for fatal light rail stabbing

MINNEAPOLIS – A Minnesota man previously convicted of murder has been sentenced to nearly 21 years in prison for fatally stabbing a 26-year-old man on a Minneapolis light rail station platform last fall.

Forty-three-year-old Frank Runningshield Jr. of Minneapolis was sentenced Wednesday in Hennepin County court. The hearing came a week after he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and admitted stabbing 26-year-old Daquan Lee Thompson of Minneapolis.

The criminal complaint said Runningshield knifed Thompson after talking to him on a south Minneapolis light rail platform last October.

Prosecutors say Runningshield admitted that he was a danger to public safety in court last week. His criminal record includes a felony murder conviction after beating a man to death in 2000.

Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman says the outcome gives Thompson’s family justice.