Woman turns herself in, charged with murder for fatal shooting at Minneapolis convenience store

A weekend shooting that killed a man in Minneapolis has now resulted in criminal charges.

Prosecutors formally charged 27-year-old Misti Dawn Nelson with second-degree murder on Wednesday for the killing of 40-year-old Kenneth Johnson.

It happened at around 3:45 a.m. Saturday at a convenience store on the corner of University Avenue Southeast and Sixth Avenue.

Charging documents state a caller reported a fight involving 10 people inside the store, shots were fired and someone was lying in the street. Police arrived and found Johnson suffering from a gunshot wound to his abdomen. He was taken to a hospital but died within the hour.

Witnesses told officers that Nelson and four others were in the store waiting to buy food when Johnson and two women entered. According to the witnesses, the three had been in the store previously without any issues but this time, the women started a fight with a male customer who was already in the store. That led the entire group of eight people to start fighting.

Surveillance video captured the fight, showing Johnson was outside when the fight actually started but quickly entered and became involved. Nelson, meanwhile, got stuck in the middle of the group with her sister, then pulled out a gun and started hitting one of the women who had shown up with Johnson, who tried to push Nelson away from the woman, according to court documents.

They add Nelson was pushed out of the store by the group and her sister was punching the women that were with Johnson while he was fighting with another woman. Nelson’s sister then apparently tried to get the group out of the store and Nelson waved her gun at the group.

Eventually, Nelson opened the door from outside the store and fired a shot into the group before being pushed outside. As Johnson walked out behind her, Nelson shot him again, the complaint states.

The group eventually dispersed. Nelson turned herself in through a family member about eight hours after the shooting, the complaint states.

In a police interview, court documents state Nelson admitted to shooting Johnson because she’d been hit in the face during the fight, he was bigger than her and she was worried about her sister getting hurt. It also notes that she does have a valid permit for her gun but didn’t ever call 911 or try to help Johnson after shooting him.

Her first court appearance is scheduled for Thursday afternoon.