Teen charged in Nudieland shooting certified as an adult; docs say the shooting may have been motivated by bias

A man who was 17 at the time of a deadly shooting at a punk music show last summer in Minneapolis is officially facing adult charges, according to documents filed Tuesday.

Dominic James Burris, now 18, faces one count of second-degree murder, one count of first-degree assault and five counts of second-degree assault.

As previously reported, Burris was charged in juvenile court in April.

35-year-old August Golden was killed in the shooting, which happened at the pop-up Nudieland concert on Aug. 11, 2023, and six others were hurt.

As previously reported, Minneapolis police responded to the shooting in the backyard of a home on the 2200 block of 16th Avenue South on Aug. 11, 2023. The shooting had occurred as a local band was finishing a concert of 30-50 people.

Witnesses say the gathering was of people in the LGBTQ+ community and allies and that the shooters weren’t part of the community but had come to the concert and interacted with people in the minutes before the shooting.

The shooters were identified as Burris and Cyrell Ernest Boyd, court documents state.

Seven people had been shot:

• Golden had been shot in the back and died at the scene.
• A man was shot in the thigh.
• A man was shot in the shin.
• A woman was shot in the thigh.
• A man was shot in the leg.
• A man was shot in the torso and needed to have a kidney removed. Several other organs were injured by the bullet.
• A man was grazed on his face.

Two witnesses said they were at the concert when two people they didn’t know, identified as Burris and Boyd, approached them. The two started flirting with one of the women and made insensitive comments when she declined their advances, court documents state.

She said the interaction was “hostile” and that after she commented on the fact they had guns, one of them said, “We’re not going to use the gun or anything, but if need be, we will.”

Witnesses told investigators that Burris and Boyd made derogatory comments about the sexual orientations of people at the concert.

The witness said that around 30 seconds after she saw the two leave, she heard gunshots.

Court documents state that another witness said one of the suspects was smoking a cigarette. Investigators tested the cigarette butts and one came up as a match for Boyd.

Nine discarded cartridge casings were recovered north of the scene — investigators say they were shot from two separate firearms.

Another witness who lives across the alley from where the shooting took place saw a teen matching Burris’ description running in the alley after the gunshots.

Surveillance video showed Burris and Boyd walking together in the Little Earth neighborhood an hour prior to the shooting. One of the people who witnessed the shooting identified Burris in the video.

The complaint notes several aggravating factors in the case:

“The fact this is a mass shooting with at least 7 gunshot victims, and many other victims present, demonstrates that this conduct is more egregious than other murders and shootings,” the document states. “In addition, Defendant’s use of derogatory epithets prior to the shooting suggests the incident was motivated by the victims’ gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression. Finally, the incident occurred in the backyard of a private residence.”