42-year-old convicted of kidnapping, attempted murder charges

A 42-year-old man was convicted by a jury Tuesday on two counts of kidnapping and one count of attempted second-degree murder.

Antonio Dupree Wright is scheduled to be sentenced on these charges on Jan. 29.

St. Paul police responded to a residence on Wilson Avenue on the night of Sept. 2, 2022, on a report of a man who had been shot multiple times, according to a criminal complaint. The victim had been shot multiple times in the back and shoulder.

The victim told officers that he had overheard a man later identified as Wright and two other men discussing a 2017 murder, court documents state. One of the men with Wright said the victim couldn’t be trusted, so the victim left.

Wright later met up with the victim and asked if he had said anything about the murder, and the victim said he hadn’t.

Later, the victim was on York Avenue South and a woman asked him to come outside. He went outside and Wright came out of the shadows and asked the victim to get into his van. The victim told police that Wright had his hand in his pocket and he thought Wright was going to kill him.

According to court documents, Wright got into the backseat and the victim got into the passenger seat. Wright held a gun to the victim’s head and told him, “It’s over,” as the victim pleaded for his life. The driver told Wright not to shoot the victim in the van.

Wright directed the driver to an alley near Earl Street and Hudson Road. When the van got to Earl Street and Wilson Avenue, the victim got out of the van and tried to run away. Wright shot at the victim five times, court documents state.

The victim later told police where Wright lives and identified the van.

Wright had also been charged in connection with a triple homicide in St. Paul in 2022 but was acquitted of those charges on Sept. 15, according to court records.