Man arrested for fatal Minneapolis bar shooting charged with illegal weapon possession, no murder charge filed

A Minneapolis man has been charged with illegal possession of a gun due to a prior felony conviction after involvement in a fatal shooting on Saturday, Dec. 3 inside Spring Street Tavern in Northeast Minneapolis.

However, Hennepin County records appear conflicting as of Wednesday morning, and no one has been charged with murder in connection to the investigation of 37-year-old Kenneth Todd Rodriguez’s death.

Court records show 42-year-old Patrick William Mincey has been charged with one count of felony illegal possession of a firearm due to a prior felony conviction – which carries a 5-year maximum sentence if convicted – after a first court appearance on Tuesday, Dec. 6.

However, the inmate roster for the Hennepin County Jail, which is where Mincey is being held, says Mincey has been “formally charged” with murder as of Wednesday morning. Scroll to the bottom of the article to view a screenshot taken Wednesday morning of the Hennepin County Jail Roster.

In a criminal complaint, law enforcement described Mincey as “the other known adult male” at the scene of the shooting. The other man, Rodriguez, died at the scene of the shooting. A medical examiner confirmed Rodriguez died from a gunshot wound.

The complaint says officers handcuffed and arrested Mincey at the scene, then described the following:

“Defendant was speaking to an adult male at the bar. K.T.R. (Rodriguez) was nearby and appeared to be listening to the conversation and looking at the Defendant. At one point, K.T.R. pulled a knife from a sheath he had on his belt and approached the Defendant. K.T.R. placed his hand on the Defendant’s chest. K.T.R. and Defendant were verbally engaged but the subject matter is unclear. K.T.R. chest bumps the defendant. Defendant removed firearm, contained in a white sock, from his person. The Defendant fired one shot at K.T.R. during the altercation.”

The complaint does not say if any other shots were fired, or if anyone else at the scene had a gun. Additionally, the complaint does not say it was Mincey’s shot that resulted in Rodriguez’s death.

The only additional information the complaint includes is Mincey was convicted of kidnapping in 1998, then convicted in 2022 of one count each of second-degree assault and illegal possession of a firearm due to a prior felony conviction. Documents from those cases were said to be unavailable or nonexistent within the online Minnesota court records system.

At this time, it is unclear why inconsistencies exist within the various Hennepin County records for this case.

KSTP received this response after reaching out to Hennepin County officials for clarification: “The only charge stemming from the incident at this point is the one that you have identified. The case remains under investigation, and we won’t have any further comment at this time.”

Mincey is currently scheduled to appear in court for an omnibus hearing at 10 a.m. on Jan. 3, 2023. As of this publishing, the only additional document in the case file is a “demand for preservation and disclosure of evidence, and motion for suppression and other relief.”

Check back for updates as KSTP follows the development of the case.