2 men under ATF investigation charged in Minneapolis murder

Two men have now been charged in connection to a fatal shooting last month in north Minneapolis.

Prosecutors charged 32-year-old Dandre Franklin, of Crystal, and 34-year-old Lavester Tramaine Breham, of Sauk Village, Ill., with second-degree murder Friday for the killing of 37-year-old Mikiyel Patton.

Minneapolis police say officers found Patton in the front passenger seat of a Honda CR-V that was parked along North Newton Avenue near Oak Park Avenue at around 6:35 p.m. on Dec. 19, 2023. Patton was suffering from five gunshot wounds to his head and neck area and died at the scene, according to court documents.

As police investigated, they learned that the CR-V they found Patton in was associated with an active Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF) investigation, and Franklin and Breham were the subject of that investigation, according to a criminal complaint.

Charging documents don’t list a potential motive for the killing but state that investigators were able to review surveillance video from the area where Patton was found and a home in Brooklyn Park where Franklin and Breham were known to stay. That video showed them cleaning the CR-V about two hours before the murder, and cellphone data placed them at the scene of the murder at around the time Patton was killed.

Afterward, cellphone data showed they went to a home in Prior Lake where Franklin’s girlfriend lived, and then returned a BMW that Franklin had been driving to a dealership, the documents add.

DNA testing was done on the CR-V, and some discharged cartridge casings were found in the vehicle, and the results linked back to Franklin and Breham, court documents state.

They’re both charged via warrant and face up to 40 years in jail.