Charges: Man Flees Bar After Gun Fires In Bathroom
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A 31-year-old Eagan man is accused of fleeing from a bar earlier this month after a gun he wasn't supposed to have went off inside the bar's bathroom, according to charges filed in Dakota County Court.
Marquis Demon Bettis Sr. was charged with possession of firearm by ineligible person and reckless discharge of a firearm in connection with the incident, which happened Feb. 13.
According to the charges, the Eagan Police Department was called at about 2:36 a.m. to Casper's Cherokee on a report of a gunshot. Responding officers were advised that a gun went off in a bathroom, but nobody had been hurt. The suspect was described as a light-skinned black male with dreadlocks that had blonde tips.
Officers got to the scene and did not locate the suspect. A bartender and manager had recovered a shell casing and gave it to officers. A witness in the bathroom at the time of the incident told officers Bettis went into a bathroom stall and once he was in the stall, he heard the gunshot. The complaint states Bettis left the stall and said, "Did you hear that?" He then quickly ran out of the bathroom and left the bar. The bar manager also said he heard a gunshot.
The complaint states officers identified Bettis as the suspect and went to his residence, where people were looking out of windows and there was movement. Officers couldn't contact him. He was arrested three days later after police conducted surveillance outside his residence.
According to the complaint, authorities learned a woman obtained a permit for a gun last year and used Bettis's address as hers. Neighbors told police he lived there with his girlfriend and three children. Officers executed a search warrant, but didn't find the gun.
Bettis has a 2011 conviction for fifth-degree controlled substance that does not allow him to have a gun.
The incident is under investigation.
