Man charged with murder in St. Paul’s North End

A St. Paul man is now formally charged for a homicide last week in the city’s North End neighborhood.

Prosecutors have charged 21-year-old Martavious Deavionne Roby-English with second-degree murder and attempted murder for a shooting in the 800 block of Simcoe Street on May 30.

St. Paul police say officers were called to a shooting report at around 2:30 a.m. Thursday morning and found a man inside a vehicle that had crashed into a yard. That man, later identified as 21-year-old Toumai Gaynor, was taken to a hospital where he died.

Charging documents state that officers found five 9 mm shell casings scattered around the vehicle Gaynor was in as well as bullet holes in its windshield. Additionally, a Glock with blood on it and an extended magazine were right behind the car.

An 18-year-old woman who was with Gaynor said Gaynor went to an address to pick something up but, as he tried to make a U-turn, a man in a hoodie ran up to the car and opened fire.

According to court documents, investigators found messages on the woman’s phone from Roby-English that indicated the two had been in a romantic relationship previously, and Roby-English repeatedly asked her to come over. In the hour leading up to the shooting, he sent her several messages that indicated he knew where she was and one that said, “Don’t make me walk ova there and shoot that (expletive) up.”

The woman confirmed their relationship during a later talk with investigators and said she planned to visit Roby-English after dropping Gaynor off at a friend’s house. However, after Gaynor got there and said he couldn’t stay with the friend after all, they sat in the car together for close to an hour before the shooting.

She added that she didn’t know who was shooting at them initially but eventually realized it was Roby-English, the charging documents state.

After the shooting, witnesses in the area who saw a man running told officers the man said, “Call the cops. My girlfriend was shot. I’m running home,” a criminal complaint states. Another witness saw a man matching the description and heard the man say he shot him when she asked what happened.

When officers talked to Roby-English, he called the woman with Gaynor his girlfriend and she was supposed to bring him some money. However, according to the complaint, he said the woman then turned off her ability for him to see her phone location and he got upset. He claimed he could see the car she was sitting in from his home and ran up to it and knocked on the window, yelling for her to get out.

Roby-English said he then heard gunshots and pulled out a gun and shot back, claiming Gaynor shot first.

Court records show multiple prior assault convictions, for which he was still on probation.