Man charged with killing girlfriend in south Minneapolis apartment

Murder charges have now been filed against a man accused of killing his girlfriend over the weekend in south Minneapolis.

Johnny Leroy Brown, 50, was charged Wednesday with second-degree murder and gun possession by an ineligible person for the shooting that killed 43-year-old Kesha Latrice Moore.

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Minneapolis police say officers found Moore dead with a gunshot wound to her head inside her apartment near West 43rd Street and Sheridan Avenue South at around 8:20 p.m. Sunday.

Court records show that Brown called 911, saying his girlfriend pulled a gun on him but it went off and she was dead before hanging up. He later called 911 again and provided a similar narrative, adding that he was ready to turn himself in despite his cellphone data placing him at a different location than where he claimed he was.

Police said Brown was arrested after a traffic stop in Golden Valley shortly before 9 p.m. that night.

Charging documents state Brown admitted he and Moore had been in a relationship for nearly two years and lived together at the apartment where she was found. He added that they’d gotten into an argument that day because Moore was concerned that he was cheating, and she poked him in the face.

Brown then claimed that, as he fixed himself a drink, Moore pointed a gun at him. However, he said he took the gun from her and the gun just went off and hit her. Investigators say that’s not possible because the gun that was used has a trigger pull of more than five pounds, so a bump wouldn’t cause it to go off, the documents state.

A criminal complaint also notes that Brown said he didn’t move Moore after she was shot, despite blood smears indicating the opposite, and he then fled in her car. It adds that his accountings of what he did after leaving were also inconsistent and the gun wasn’t where Brown claimed he threw it.

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Brown also turned off his cellphone after making the 911 calls, then went to a phone store and got a new number, according to charging documents. When he was arrested, he was with his new girlfriend, whom he later called from jail and told that he never had a relationship with Moore.

Records show Brown has served nearly 10 years in federal prison for a gun violation in 2007 that stemmed from him firing a gun in the air during a disagreement with a former girlfriend. He’d also been barred from having a gun due to a crime of violence conviction in 2001 and has had multiple protective orders placed against him.

He’s scheduled to make his first court appearance on Thursday afternoon but also had an unrelated hearing on Tuesday. Several of Moore’s family members showed up to that one, saying they wanted to send a message to him while mourning her loss.