RICHFIELD, Minn. — A 29-year-old man has been charged with second-degree unintentional murder after a shooting that stemmed from an alleged robbery.
On Dec. 6, just before 4 a.m., Minneapolis police responded to a 911 call of a woman who appeared to have been shot, according to the criminal complaint. The caller reported that the woman was sitting in a parked Ford F-150.
Officers found the woman, who was taken to the hospital in critical condition and later died of a single gunshot wound, authorities said.
Police assessed gunshots reported in Richfield around 3:30 a.m. in the area of 6200 5th Ave. S. According to the criminal complaint, based on information from the caller who reported the shots fired, authorities spoke with the man.
He told police on Dec. 6 that he saw several people stealing items from his van parked in front of his Richfield home, the complaint said. The man confronted the group, who drove away in a Ford F-150. During a conversation with police on December 6, the man did not say he had a gun.
According to the complaint, police spoke with the man again on December 18. The man admitted at the time that he knew that shots were being fired and that he had a gun with him during the confrontation. He drove the gun to his cabin in Aitken after the shooting, thinking it best to “get it out of there.”
The man told police the group of people were unarmed and identified items belonging to him that were in the Ford truck.
He is now in custody.
Surveillance footage shows the man running from his home, yelling at the group in the van, and pulling out a gun, the charges say. Video also shows the F-150 leaving the area.
Police used phone records to place the victim near the man’s home around the time the shots were called, and tracked her phone’s movement from there to Minneapolis, where she was found.
