2nd man charged in Alex Becker homicide

A second man has been arrested and charged in connection with the homicide of 22-year-old Alex Becker in St. Paul.

Police say Detwan Cortell Allen was arrested Friday morning. He’s charged with one count of second-degree murder.

In December 2022, Becker was walking home from work when suspects fired a total of seven shots. Police were called shortly before midnight and medics pronounced Becker dead at the scene. Surveillance video obtained by law enforcement captured three men fleeing in a stolen Camry.

Investigators were able to track that Camry back to the home of Arteze Owen Kinerd, who has since been arrested and charged. Kinerd has two prior arrests for aggravated robbery. Kinerd’s probation officers said he has a friend known as DaeDae; police confirmed DaeDae is Allen.

On Jan. 25, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension returned its report on the physical evidence inside the stolen Camry. DNA analysis from the driver’s interior door handle edges shows Allen as the main profile.

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS previously talked to Becker’s aunt, Hidy Hammarsten, who said, “Alex was a very sweet child and young man,” adding that, “His concern was always for other people.”

Hammarsten explained that Becker worked about a mile away from his home and had been taking an Uber home from work but decided to walk home that night since it was warmer outside. Since his death, she says she’s been getting messages from people she’s never met who went knew Becker, “and everybody just loves him. If you knew him, you loved him.” Becker’s death was St. Paul’s 40th homicide of 2022.

Allen made his first court appearance on Friday and is set to appear again on March 2.