Steven Cooper, 31, served more than 13 years behind bars after he was convicted of shooting two store clerks during a robbery at 15 years old. He has since been released from prison, but could be going back due to what he and others are calling an unfair situation.
In Duluth last July, Cooper was going through the belongings of his recently deceased brother when he found a pistol inside a car they had been using for storage space.
Being a felon and currently on parole, Cooper says he immediately contacted his parole officer to turn it in.
But he is still being prosecuted and could potentially go back to jail.
“I was honest from the start,” Cooper said on the steps of the St. Louis County Courthouse last Thursday. “By doing the right thing, I am being punished.”
Now, many are stepping up in support of the St. Louis Park man who has done his time and tried to do the right thing, including the Duluth NAACP and the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus.
Cooper joined News Talk 830 WCCO’s Jason DeRusha to discuss the situation, which could land him in prison for five more years.
“For me, this is something I probably would have seen on TV and thought, ‘Damn, that’s egregious,’” Cooper said.
Cooper shared that the vehicle in which he found the weapon was initially a gift from his brother that he was planning on selling because he hadn’t been using it. But after a conversation with his dad, he decided to keep it, leading to him cleaning it out and finding the firearm.
“I went to go clean it out. Found some bullets in the back. Found the gun. And immediately knew at that moment that I was supposed to do the right thing and call either 911 or my agent at the time,” Cooper said.
After contacting his parole officer, who he described as one of the closest people in his life at the time, she contacted the police, following protocol.
“She assured me that everything was going to be okay, that I indeed had done a great thing, and that everything was going to be okay,” Cooper said.
While she told Cooper she wasn’t sure what was going to happen when police arrived, she assured him she would vouch for him on the police report.
After the report was filed, Cooper was not sent back to prison following a hearing with the Minnesota Department of Corrections. However, he has since been charged with felony possession of a firearm and is facing another half-decade behind bars.
“I believe that this is like a bold injustice,” Cooper said, adding that he thinks this is why people are reaching out to him and trying to help.
Waking up every day, Cooper says he finds himself in disbelief that he’s in this situation, even after he did what he believed to be the right thing.
While at first Cooper thought the situation was “pretty simple,” it has now continued to snowball, and he says he thinks what he’s going through “should be heard by everyone” because it’s “insane.”
A GoFundMe has been set up for Cooper to help pay for his legal fees, and a petition, written by the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus, has been started at Change.org.
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