Charges: Xavier Willis shot man in chest outside Minneapolis apartment, hours after victim reported him to police
MINNEAPOLIS – A 33-year-old man is accused of shooting another man in the chest last month outside of a Minneapolis apartment building, leaving him on life support and without brain function.
The Hennepin County Attorney's Office says Xavier Willis is charged with second-degree attempted murder and first-degree assault in connection to the shooting on Jan. 13, 2022, which happened in the parking lot of the building on the 2000 block of 21st Avenue South.
The criminal complaint states that hours before the shooting, the victim contacted police to say Willis threatened him with a gun during an argument.
Police say later that day, surveillance camera footage shows the victim sitting in the driver's seat of a parked car, talking with his girlfriend, who was standing outside the vehicle.
Willis is seen parking his car, walking down the alley, and then approaching the victim's vehicle. He then fires a single shot through the windshield, striking the victim in the chest. Willis is then seen fleeing the area.
The victim's girlfriend told investigators that her wounded boyfriend got out of the car and walked up to their apartment "to say goodbye to his child." He then got back into his car to drive himself to a hospital, but he ended up crashing outside of a fire station. Police say when officers arrived, firefighters were giving him medical care.
The complaint says that doctors "did not expect Victim to survive the surgery but at this time, Victim is intubated without brain function."
Willis later admitted to shooting the victim, and officers found a .40-caliber Glock handgun, and its instructional manual, at his residence.
Willis has multiple felony burglary convictions in Cook County, Illinois, and is prohibited from possessing a handgun. He is also scheduled to begin trial next month for unrelated charges in Hennepin County.
If convicted on the attempted murder and assault charges, Willis could face up to 60 years in prison.
