16-year-old charged in connection with fatal October shooting in Frogtown

A 16-year-old was charged in connection with a fatal shooting in St. Paul’s Frogtown neighborhood on Oct. 1.

According to a juvenile petition filed in Ramsey County Juvenile Court, the teen was charged with one count of intentional second-degree murder, and one count of unintentional second-degree murder while committing a felony.

St. Paul police were dispatched to a report on Oct. 11 of a man being shot in the stomach and 15-20 gunshots being fired at Edmund Ave. West and Grotto St. North, the petition states.

When officers got to the scene, they found Marcus Darnell Miller, 24, with a gunshot wound to his torso. Paramedics brought Miller to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Miller’s girlfriend, who had witnessed the shooting, told officers that she and Miller were walking to Willard’s Liquors when they were cut off by a vehicle driving over the sidewalk. Both occupants of the vehicle had handguns, she told police.

Prosecutors say the woman hid behind her and Miller’s vehicle and recorded part of the incident on her phone. The two male suspects told Miller that he owed them money. The driver of the vehicle began shooting at Miller, and both suspects shot at him as he ran away. The suspects then got back into their vehicle and drove away.

The woman’s recording showed the juvenile suspect going through Miller’s pockets, court documents allege.

Witnesses also reported seeing the two suspects robbing Miller and shooting him while he ran away. Surveillance footage from the liquor store also captured the robbery and shooting.

Using the surveillance footage, officers were able to match the suspect’s vehicle to a Kia Sportage that had been stolen from Minneapolis Technical College.

Officers recovered the vehicle on Oct. 13, and the SPPD Forensic Services Unit found a palm print of the juvenile suspect on one of the doors.

Investigators then found the juvenile’s Facebook page, where he appeared to be posting about the shooting. On a separate social media page, the juvenile is pictured wearing the same sweatshirt shown in surveillance footage and is pictured with the other teen suspect.

On Nov. 2, police executed a search warrant of a home in St. Paul and found the sweatshirt, as well as the sweatshirt worn by the other teen suspect. The daughter of the renter of the home is friends with the teen.

The girl told police that the two teens had come over recently and asked to change clothes. The girl confirmed that the sweatshirts seen on surveillance were the ones the two teens were wearing when they came over.

The juvenile suspect was arrested later that day.