Man charged with attempted murder in West St. Paul December shooting

A Minneapolis man was charged with attempted murder Friday after a shooting at a gas station in West St. Paul wounded two in December.

Joshua Dartavian-Da Moore Gooden, 21, is charged with second-degree intentional attempted murder and second-degree assault after allegedly shooting two people on Dec. 5 at a Marathon Gas Station in the 400 block of Mendota Road East.

Shortly before 9 p.m., West St. Paul police responded to the gas station and described the scene as “large and chaotic,” with a crowd. Due to the crowd trying to interfere with first responders, the officers called for assistance from nine other agencies.

Officers found a woman and man who’d been shot — the woman in the leg and the man once in the arm and multiple times in the abdomen, according to a criminal complaint. The woman said she was outside of a vehicle near a gas pump and the man was inside the vehicle. The two victims said they were in a relationship with one another.

Both victims were taken to the hospital. Police recovered six shell casings from the scene.

The female victim told police that her partner — the other victim — knew Moore Gooden, as they had had arguments previously at an apartment across the street where Moore Gooden had threatened to shoot. On Dec. 5, Moore Gooden was at the gas station with others and had a gun. He and the male victim again argued, Moore Gooden approached with a gun, the male victim got back into the car, and Moore Gooden began shooting, the complaint states.

The complaint also describes the incident as having possible ties to the shooting death of a gang member in St. Paul in 2019, according to accounts from the victim and Moore Gooden’s social media activity.

On Friday, the West St. Paul Police Department announced that they’d executed search warrants, with help from the South Metro SWAT team, at two apartments where Moore Gooden and others in the suspect vehicle at the time of the shooting lived. Law enforcement subsequently arrested Moore Gooden. Police said that all other occupants of the suspect vehicle have been identified.

Moore Gooden is in custody at the Dakota County Jail with bail set at $750,000, or $300,000 with conditions. He made his first appearance in court Friday and has a hearing next month.