Man charged in St. Paul gas station shooting pleads guilty

A Blaine man charged in connection to a shooting at a St. Paul gas station in November pleaded guilty Friday.

Alize Jovon Cleaves, 24, originally pleaded not guilty to two counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon and one count of dangerous weapons back in December. On Friday, he accepted a plea agreement and changed his plea to guilty on one count of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon.

Man charged in St. Paul gas station shooting

According to a criminal complaint, three deputy U.S. marshals were at a gas station near Interstate 94 and Highway 52 at about 5 p.m. on Nov. 6, 2019. At that time, they witnessed a verbal altercation between two men, and one of the men then walked back to a vehicle. When the vehicle started to pull away, another man, later identified as Cleaves, pulled out a handgun and started shooting at the vehicle.

One of the deputy marshals then pulled out his firearm, identified himself as law enforcement and ordered Cleaves to drop the weapon, but he didn't listen and turned toward the deputy marshal, the complaint states. At that time, the deputy marshal shot Cleaves twice, then provided aid to him until medics arrived and transported him to a hospital.

A date for Cleaves' sentencing hadn't yet been set as of Friday afternoon.