Teen pleads guilty to shooting 2 Minn. clerks

DULUTH, Minn. (AP) - A teenager has pleaded guilty to charges that he shot two Lincoln Park convenience store clerks multiple times in the back three years ago.

Eighteen-year-old Steven Albert Cooper entered the plea Thursday to two counts of attempted first-degree murder. In exchange St. Louis County prosecutors agreed to dismiss two charges and recommend a single 20-year prison sentence instead of two.

Prosecutors say Cooper had just turned 15 when he allegedly shot and wounded Christopher Davis and Daniel Warner while robbing a convenience store in 2006.

Each victim was shot three times and both suffered a collapsed lung. Each man also has a bullet permanently lodged near his spine. Cooper had been scheduled to stand trial next month. His sentencing hearing is set for May 18.

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