Charges: Jermaine Baker shot dead by Lazarus Burns in Dayton's Bluff domestic assault
ST. PAUL, Minn. – A man is dead after a shooting Thursday afternoon in St. Paul's Dayton's Bluff neighborhood.
Police say it happened just after 2 p.m. at the intersection of Earl Street and 3rd Street East, near the American Indian Magnet School.
A WCCO crew at the scene spotted bloody clothes in the street, and the forensics team was combing the grass by a nearby Metro Transit bus shelter.
The man was identified as 30-year-old Jermaine Ray John Baker. On Friday, police said they have 31-year-old Lazarus Lamar Burns II in custody in connection with the shooting; he is currently being held at Ramsey County Jail.
According to the criminal complaint, Burns and a woman were at a bus shelter in the area Thursday afternoon. The complaint says Baker got off a bus and ran toward the shelter, and began hitting the woman, holding her by the hair and knocking her to the ground. This information was corroborated by witnesses, who also told police that, once Baker had finished assaulting the woman, turned around to leave.
That's when Burns allegedly pulled out a gun and shot Baker multiple times.
Police talked with the woman, who said that she had been in a relationship with Baker in the past. She told police Baker had hit her in the past, but she never reported the assaults. She said she was currently in a relationship with Burns.
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"Near a school, near a bus stop, where incidents like this should never happen regardless of the location, and people should feel safe," said St. Paul Police spokeswoman Molly McMillen.
But Conkeesta Sanders and Vincent Crawley, who live on the corner of the intersection where the victim was found, don't feel safe. They're leaving the neighborhood.
"I moved out because they've shot at my house four times, and I have little kids," Sanders said. "We really need more of the community really to be with each other."
Crawley says the area is bad all the way around.
"There's no sugarcoating it. There's no ifs, ands or buts," Crawley said.
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"It's not the St. Paul Police Department, it's the community's police department, so if you know of someone who may be carrying a gun illegally, you may have information about a shooting, you're always encouraged to contact us," McMillen said.
This is the 19th homicide in St. Paul so far this year.