Suspect in armed break-in on St. Paul’s East Side now charged in nearby homicide

By KSTP

Tevon Antowon King (Ramsey County Jail)

A suspect connected to an armed break-in and a homicide in St. Paul’s East Side earlier this week has now been charged with murder.

A day after he was charged with burglary, prosecutors formally charged 27-year-old Tevon Antowon King with second-degree murder in the death of 36-year-old James Harmon.

The incident started with a report of gunshots early Wednesday morning, just after midnight, on White Bear Avenue near Maryland Avenue East. Officers then learned that a man had broken into a home in the area and was holding the residents hostage, court documents state.

Officers found spent 9 mm shell casings in front of two homes in the area and were also told by King’s mother that he had issues with mental health and drugs and was walking around.

Court documents state that officers entered the home where the suspect was and arrested King. Nobody who was in the home was harmed, according to police, but a bullet hole was found in a door.

Then, hours later, a woman who lives at a home a few houses down from the break-in called 911 and reported that she found her roommate lying in bed with blood on his head and face. Medics and police responded and found Harmon wrapped in covers in the basement of the home. He was pronounced dead shortly before 9:30 a.m.

Court documents note that officers also found a shell casing at the foot of his bed.

According to a criminal complaint, the woman told police she noted Harmon wasn’t up yet when she took her kids to school that morning, which she thought was unusual because he’s usually up by 6:30 a.m. When she got back from dropping her kids off, she checked on him and found him bloodied in bed.

Additionally, she said she’d just talked to Harmon the night before, and he was excited about his job and looked forward to going to work the next day.

The woman noted that she heard gunshots outside her home overnight at around midnight, and two shots in particular sounded like they came from inside the home. However, none of her kids woke up, and Harmon didn’t come out of his bedroom, so she went back to bed.

Investigators later learned that the shell casing found by Harmon’s bed was fired by the same gun that fired the casing inside the home that was broken into that morning, according to the complaint. The same gun was linked to cases in 2020 and 2021, one of which involved King reportedly firing the gun in the air during an argument with his girlfriend and one where his father shot a dog.

One of King’s coworkers told investigators that he and others hung out with King the night before and drank and smoked weed, the complaint adds. He noted that King thought people were following him and seemed to be having a mental breakdown. Eventually, the coworker said King’s behavior made the others uncomfortable to the point where they started to leave, and the coworker decided to drive King and his girlfriend to King’s mother’s home.

While en route, the coworker said he heard multiple pops and then saw a gun in King’s hands. Believing King fired the gun out the back window, the coworker told King and his girlfriend to get out of the vehicle and drove away.

After King was arrested, the complaint states that King recalled hanging out with his coworker and girlfriend but denied having a gun. He added that the weed they smoked must’ve been laced with fentanyl, and he couldn’t remember anything after leaving his coworker’s home until he woke up to police holding him at gunpoint and yelling at him.

While he didn’t know whose house he slept in, King remembered waking up on a trampoline, which was in the yard of a neighbor to the home that was broken into. Additionally, the complaint states that King denied knowing Harmon or his roommate but accurately described the home’s interior layout.

When pressed about Harmon’s death, King again denied knowing him but said if Harmon was shot while sleeping, “that is an execution and [expletive] up.” He added that he is possibly being framed.

King made his first appearance in court Friday morning and had his bail set at $2 million. He’d face up to 40 years in prison if convicted of murder.