Man sentenced for role in fatal Woodbury shooting

A St. Paul man has pleaded guilty and been sentenced for his role in a fatal shooting near a Woodbury graduation party.

Twenty-year-old Jaden Lavan Townsend pleaded guilty Tuesday to second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon and was sentenced to three years (36 months) at the St. Cloud Correctional Facility. He received credit for 371 days already served and five other charges — four counts of aiding and abetting second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon and one count of aiding and abetting second-degree murder — filed against him were dismissed.

Townsend turned himself in last year after he was charged in connection to a drive-by shooting that killed 14-year-old Demaris Hobbs-Ekdahl on June 5, 2021.

Several others have also been arrested and charged in connection to the shooting, including Keith Dawson, Enrique Davila and Xavier Hudson.

Dawson is scheduled for a jury trial beginning on Nov. 28 and Davila has a court hearing set for Sept. 9.