Man charged in Minneapolis shooting that killed woman, left toddler with facial gunshot wounds
MINNEAPOLIS — A 20-year-old man from Savage is accused of opening fire on a family's car in Minneapolis, killing a woman inside and injuring her toddler son as he sat in her lap.
The Hennepin County Attorney's Office charged the man with one count of second-degree murder and four counts of second-degree attempted murder in connection to the shooting on the night of May 19.
The woman died days after the shooting, which also left her 2-year-old son with two gunshot wounds to the face. Her two other children inside the car weren't hurt, nor was the father of her children, who the suspect also allegedly fired at.
The criminal complaint states the shooting happened in the alley of the 2900 block of 18th Avenue South, just west of Pioneers & Soldiers Memorial Cemetery.
The father left momentarily to grab some tools from his brother when surveillance footage showed a vehicle pull up behind the family, according to the complaint. The suspect then got out, slowly walked over to the family's car and opened fire.
Video shows the father coming back to the vehicle and screaming. The suspect then fired at him but missed before fleeing.
Several witnesses pointed police in the suspect's direction, the complaint states. Warrants were issued to access his social media accounts, where investigators found images of him with guns, and messages where the suspect tried to "trade firearms 24 hours after the murder." His phone was also pinged at the scene of the crime.
Two witnesses later picked the suspect out of a photo line-up, and police also obtained a selfie he allegedly took hours before the shooting, where he was wearing the same shoes as the shooter in surveillance footage.
According to the complaint, the suspect has "a history of violence," and is on probation from an aggravated robbery in Scott County. He is also charged in a home invasion and attempted murder in Iowa.
The attorney's office requested bail to be set at $2 million because prosecutors believe the suspect is a flight risk since messages obtained by investigators included "brags about fleeing to Somalia" in reference to the Iowa charges.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara said his team utilized "interpreters to gather vital information from witnesses" to crack the case over the past several months.
"The death of a mother who was holding her child when both were shot is especially troubling, and this senseless crime impacted the family, the community, the responding officers and the investigators," O'Hara said.
If convicted of all charges, he faces a minimum sentence of 15 years in prison, with the attorney's office pushing for an aggravated sentence since children were involved.
NOTE: The original airdate of the video attached to this article is May 20, 2024.