BLOOMINGTON, MN – A 22-year-old Minnesota man was sentenced Tuesday to 12½ years in prison for dragging a victim with his vehicle and crushing his skull during a drug deal gone wrong.
Lamont Eugene Williams received the sentence, with credit for 40 days served, after being convicted of second-degree murder without intent in the death of 21-year-old Alexif Loeza Galvan.
The fatal incident occurred on March 6, 2025, when Williams and Galvan communicated through Facebook Messenger about a marijuana transaction, according to court documents. Williams inquired about purchasing marijuana from Galvan, and around 8:30 p.m., he arrived at the victim’s neighborhood in Bloomington, a city 10 miles south of Minneapolis.
Williams messaged “I’m in this Jeep,” with phone location data confirming his presence on the 8300 block of 11th Avenue South. Galvan, who was home with family, told a relative that “Monty” – later identified as Williams – had contacted him about selling “weed.”
Galvan’s mother said her son told her “he was going outside to sell something.” About two minutes later, she heard yelling from the front of the house. Looking outside, she witnessed her son “leaning into the passenger side of a small, dark colored SUV,” appearing “half in and half out of the vehicle,” according to the probable cause statement.
Court documents state Galvan and someone inside the vehicle were “pulling a backpack back and forth” before the vehicle accelerated, leaving Galvan “lying in the street a few houses down” from his home. Phone location data showed Williams traveling east after the incident.
At approximately 8:43 p.m., Williams sent Galvan a message stating, “My fault gang I had to,” court records show. A minute later, police responded to calls about a man lying on the pavement near a snowbank. Galvan appeared to have suffered severe trauma and breathing difficulties before being transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Bloomington police arrested Williams while he was driving a gray Jeep Renegade registered to his mother. A search warrant execution revealed a Polymer 80 9mm handgun in the front passenger seat and a black Coach backpack containing multiple plastic bags of marijuana totaling more than half a pound.
An autopsy determined Galvan died from blunt force trauma, with numerous injuries including brain bleeding, skull fracture, facial and head bruising, multiple rib fractures, and lower spine bruising. He also sustained “road rash” with “several small rocks and gravel” embedded in those areas, detectives reported.
During the sentencing hearing, Galvan’s family members described the trauma his death caused them. “I had to watch my brother take his last breath,” his sister Yamilet Loeza said in a victim impact statement, according to The St. Paul Pioneer Press. “Nothing could have prepared me for the silence that came after.”
Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Krista White emphasized the severity of the victim’s death during the hearing. “This was a horrible death, Your Honor,” White told the judge. “You saw the photos. He was dragged down to the bone, his skull was crushed.”
Williams claimed he acted in self-defense and that Galvan was the aggressor, according to court reports. A GoFundMe established for Galvan remembered him as “a light in all of our lives—always laughing, smiling, and bringing joy to everyone around him.”
