Mpls. Man Charged With Murder In Weekend Shooting
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A 59-year-old Minneapolis man has been charged in connection to the weekend shooting that killed Kenneth Madison, and police say he was planning to leave the state just hours after the crime.
Rico P. Howard is charged with second-degree murder in the shooting, which happened on the 2700 block of Blaisdell Avenue South just before midnight on Aug. 15.
According to a criminal complaint, responding officers found Madison, 53, in an apartment building with a gunshot wound in his waist. The man who lived at the apartment and another witness initially told police that Madison had wandered into the building with the wound. Later, they changed their story to say that he was shot in the apartment by a man who threatened to kill them if they told police.
They identified that man as Howard.
Witnesses also told police that Howard and Madison had gotten into an argument that night. One remembered that just before the shooting, Madison had said to Howard, "What are you going to do…shoot me?"
Two days after the shooting, police got a tip that Howard was boarding a bus to Los Angeles, the complaint states. Police found him on a Greyhound bus, arrested him and brought him to the Hennepin County Jail.
He had bought a one-way bus ticket less than 20 hours after the shooting, the complaint states. Police found him with no personal items, no baggage – just $5,000 in cash.
If convicted, Howard faces a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison.