‘That still don’t bring my son back’: Mother shares raw reaction after Bar Zia shooting sentencing

Ericka Wheeler walked out of the Hennepin County courtroom Tuesday with a sense of relief she said she had not felt in a while.

Her son, 21-year-old Damarco Fletcher Jr., was killed in a shooting inside Bar Zia last October. Two men were sentenced earlier in the day to more than 50 years in prison for her son’s death.

Wheeler said hearing the judge announce the prison terms gave her a renewed belief in the justice system.

“I am looking at the judicial system a little better than what I have been looking at it, because it has been a lot of similar cases where it seems like people are getting slapped on the wrist and back in the real world free to commit more crimes and harm other people,” Wheeler said. “For me to know tha...