Man, 49, Charged In Deadly Drive-By Shooting At Winona Bar
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A 49-year-old Winona man is accused of shooting at bar patrons from his vehicle outside a Winona bar earlier this week, killing one and injuring another.
On Thursday morning, the Winona County Attorney's Office charged Ricky Darnell Waiters with second-degree murder, second-degree assault and drive-by shooting – all felonies – in connection to the Wednesday, July 27 incident.
According to police, officers responded at 1:07 a.m. to a 911 call of a shooting that just occurred at EB's Corner Bar at 700 West 5th Street.
When officers arrived, they found a 27-year-old Winona man, identified as Sean Patrick O'Brien, suffering from a gunshot wound to the leg and a 53-year-old Winona man suffering from a gunshot wound to the torso area. Both were taken to a local hospital.
The 53-year-old victim was later pronounced dead. He's identified as Robert Charles Johnson.
According to the criminal complaint, witnesses prior to the shooting observed a Geo Tracker pull into the bar's parking lot and park next to a chicken pit. One of the witnesses said it was odd because everyone knew not to park there. When the witness approached the vehicle and confronted the driver, who was the only occupant, about where he parked, the driver drove out of the parking lot.
When the driver got into a position parallel to where the witness and others were standing, the driver fired a handgun at them, shooting possibly six times, the complaint said.
One of the witnesses told police that at one point the driver yelled something to the effect of: "That's what you get for f---ing with Angel" or "Don't f--- with Angel!" Another witness said he heard something about Hells Angels.
Police say witnesses' descriptions led them to the suspect's vehicle, located on 129 West 3rd Street, which contains apartments. While evacuating the apartments shortly before 7 a.m., authorities made contact with the suspect – later identified as Waiters – and arrested him without incident.
Police found a .40 caliber Smith & Wesson inside Waiters' apartment and six spent shell casings for the handgun inside Waiters' vehicle.
If convicted, Waiters could face up to 40 years in prison on the murder charge, up to 10 years on the drive-by shooting charge and up to 7 years on the second-degree assault charge.
