A St. Paul man has been sentenced to five years in prison for illegally possessing a gun in connection with a May shooting during a carjacking attempt at a Cub Foods in the city’s Greater East Side neighborhood.

Jarquez Jason Yankovec, 28, pleaded guilty to the gun charge in July after reaching a plea deal that included the length of the prison term. Two other felony charges were dismissed at Wednesday’s sentencing — drive-by shooting and possessing ammunition after a crime of violence — as part of the plea deal with the prosecution.

Jarquez Jason Yankovec (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)

The shooting happened around 2 p.m. May 9 in the Cub Foods parking lot on Clarence Street and Maryland Avenue. Officers recovered a single .45-caliber casing.

According to the criminal complaint, a man who had been parked in the store’s parking lot said two masked men approached his sedan and tried to open the back doors. He was frightened and backed out of his parking spot to drive away.

The two men chased him and one fired a gun. A bullet struck him in the thigh as he drove away. He drove himself to St. John’s Hospital in Maplewood, where he was treated for an injury that wasn’t life threatening.

Earlier, the suspects tried to carjack another person, who also drove away from the lot, the complaint says.

Surveillance video showed the driver of a GMC Envoy reach his hand out of the window with a handgun and fire at the man’s sedan.

Officers later located the SUV near Payne Avenue and Bedford Street about 90 minutes after the shooting and arrested Yankovec, who was driving, and a 21-year-old man.

Officers recovered a Ruger .45-caliber firearm beneath the rear passenger seats. It had a round of ammunition in its chamber and additional rounds in its magazine. A black ski mask, black bandana and two black gloves were in the center console.

Yankovec has a 2015 felony conviction for third-degree assault that makes him ineligible to possess firearms or ammunition. Yankovec also has a 2017 conviction for felon in possession of a firearm.

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