St. Cloud Man Sentenced to Four and a Half Years for Shooting Outside Apartment Building

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- A St. Cloud man has been sentenced nearly two years after he severely injured another man in a shooting incident.

A Stearns County judge has sentenced 28-year-old Lara Tetyang Puok to four-and-a-half years in prison for shooting another man outside an apartment building on Rivercrest Drive in October 2024. Puok gets credit for already having served nearly two years in the county jail.

According to the charges, Puok and the other man got into an argument and exchanged punches. Puok then pulled a handgun out of his waistband, racked the chamber, and fired a shot as the victim turned to run away.

After shooting the victim, Puok fled the scene.

The victim was brought to the hospital with a spinal cord injury that was affecting the use of his legs.

A Stearns County jury convicted Puok of 1st-degree assault with a gun, causing great bodily harm, after a four-day jury trial last June.