Teen charged with murder in connection to May shooting in Minneapolis

A 17-year-old has been charged with murder in a May 29 shooting in north Minneapolis, according to a warrant filed in Hennepin County Court on Tuesday.

Records show Devante Marcus Sletten, of Brooklyn Park, faces two separate counts of second-degree murder — drive-by shooting and unintentional while committing a felony — and one count of third-degree murder in connection with the killing of 19-year-old Edwin Lydell Vaughn, Jr., of Minneapolis.

The warrant states that just after 9 p.m. on May 29, Minneapolis police officers responded to a ShotSpotter activation at North 27th and Upton avenues in the city’s Willard-Hay neighborhood. Shortly after the activation, Vaughn was brought to North Memorial Health Hospital in critical condition. He was later pronounced dead.

That night, Vaughn had been arguing with his girlfriend, who told him her brother "Mooka" wanted to fight him. Before the fight, Vaughn was at his home with his girlfriend, Sletten and two witnesses who told police their accounts of the incident, according to the warrant.

Vaughn left with the two witnesses in a silver Pontiac that belonged to one of the witnesses, and Sletten left in a black Ford Fusion. The witnesses told police that, at one point prior to the fight, Sletten said he’d return fire if anyone from the other side shot.

Videos obtained from neighbors in the area and people who were at the scene showed how the fight unfolded.

The Pontiac parked on 27th Avenue near Upton Avenue, and the Ford parked around the corner on Upton. A cellphone video police obtained from a bystander shows Vaughn fighting with another male on the sidewalk near the Pontiac while several other people stand around watching, according to the warrant. At one point, three shots are heard, and Vaughn reacts as though he’d been shot.

A neighbor’s Ring video from a house on Upton shows Sletten getting out of the passenger’s side of the Ford before standing next to the car, holding his arms up over the top of the car and shooting three times toward the group of people, the warrant states. The shooter is then seen getting back in the Ford, which drives south down Upton while two shots are fired from the crowd toward the fleeing vehicle. Vaughn can be seen running away from the fight and falling on the ground next to the Pontiac.

The charges state that the victim’s family members told investigators that after the shooting they talked with Sletten, who admitted he was there and shot to "clear the scene."

A Hennepin County judge ordered Sletten to stand trial as an adult. If convicted, he faces up to 40 years in prison for each of the two second-degree murder charges or up to 25 years for third-degree murder.