Man on parole shot, killed pregnant ex-wife at St. Paul apartment complex, charges say
ST. PAUL, Minn. — A 36-year-old man who was on parole shot and killed his pregnant ex-wife and injured another during a carjacking in St. Paul, charges say.
He had been on parole since March after spending more than a decade in prison for shooting and killing a man in 2008. The man was on work release and living in a halfway home, but had been granted a pass to be at an apartment complex on Sycamore Street East on Oct. 19 to visit his ex-wife, according to court documents.
Around 9 p.m. that evening, police responded to a report of a shooting at the apartment complex; police found the woman, later identified as 35-year-old Damara Stowers lying on the bedroom floor. There were five 9mm shell casings in the room, and she was pronounced dead at 9:26 p.m. She was eight to nine weeks pregnant at the time, documents say.
Witnesses told police that a man had been visiting her regularly over the past month or two, charges say. The owner of the apartment complex said Stowers was in the process of being evicted. One of the residents of the apartment complex told officers that a man in a white shirt had ran south a minute after the gunshots were fired, documents say.
At 9:14 p.m., officers were called roughly two blocks away to 99 Acker Street on a report of a carjacking. A 26-year-old man was lying on the ground with a gunshot wound to his upper leg. Charges state that he told police through a Spanish translator that he parked his Audi in a parking lot after returning from the store with another man.
He was smoking a cigarette when a man wearing a white t-shirt and gray shorts approached him. The man said something to him in English that he did not understand, and then shot him, the victim said. He also attempted to shoot the other man, but missed, charges say. According to the charges, the man in the white shirt initially fled the scene, but returned and tole the Audi.
Charging documents say that the shooter then called a Ramsey County Sheriff's Office employee to say he had just shot someone, and that he wanted to turn himself in. However, he did not do so.
He faces two second-degree murder charges, two counts of carjacking and two counts of assault. Stowers' death marked the 23rd homicide in St. Paul this year.
Note: The above video first aired on Oct. 20, 2024.