St. Paul police identify weekend homicide victim; suspect charged with murder

Prosecutors have charged a man suspected of fatally shooting the mother of his child this past weekend in St. Paul’s North End neighborhood.

According to St. Paul police, 31-year-old Latifa Brown of St. Paul was shot and killed near Lyton Place West and Sylvan Street just after midnight Saturday. Mark Bell Jr., 35, is charged with two counts of second-degree murder in her death.

As 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS previously reported, officers found Brown lying outside the duplex when they were called to the scene.

St. Paul officers immediately started first aid and called for medics, who pronounced the woman dead when they arrived. She had been shot in the mouth and there was a blood trail leading inside the home.

When police arrived, two men, Bell and his friend, were inside the house. Officers noted that Bell smelled of alcohol and was slurring his speech. He asked over and over, "Is she dead?" Both men were taken to police headquarters and were questioned by investigators.

From those interviews, police learned that Bell had met Brown at Hoovers Pub just a few blocks from the duplex to work out some relationship issues. Bell had invited his friend to help them talk through their problems.

Bell explained to police that he and Brown had been living together at the duplex on Lyton Place for about a year and that they have a 1-year-old child together. He said Brown had recently gotten a permit to carry a firearm and subsequently became more confrontational, pulling her gun on him and others several times. Bell claimed she had even done so that night while they were at the bar.

After the bar closed, the friend tried to get Brown in a minivan with him and Bell, but she refused and decided to walk home while they drove alongside her. Bell said his friend had gotten out of the car to talk to Brown at one point but retreated when she pointed her gun at him.

Bell told police he got to the duplex first and grabbed one of the guns from inside, the complaint states. Brown got to the duplex, and the two began arguing so loudly that their upstairs neighbor — who also talked to police — came out and told them to stop.

Bell claimed Brown said her gun was loaded and didn’t have a safety. He said she proceeded to pull the gun on him three separate times and that he thought she was going to kill him. She had even pulled the trigger a couple of times, but the gun didn’t fire, Bell said.

The fourth time Brown pulled out the gun, Bell said he went to leave since she wouldn’t. When he turned around, he saw her pointing the gun at him and heard a click. That’s when he fired the gun he had grabbed from the house; he told police he thought he was aiming away from her, but she fell and he brought her outside to take her to the hospital.

Two guns were found at the scene — one inside the minivan parked outside and another on the ground near the vehicle, the complaint states. Police didn’t find any other guns, despite Bell’s claim that Brown kept three or four of them inside the duplex.

Later that day, officers announced Bell had been arrested and booked into the Ramsey County Jail on suspicion of homicide. He remains in custody, and a judge has set his bail at $1 million.

Bell’s first court appearance is set for Tuesday morning.