Woman dies after Thursday shooting in Brooklyn Center, man charged with manslaughter

A woman died from her injuries Monday after being shot last week, Brooklyn Center police said.

On Thursday at 2:12 p.m., Brooklyn Center and Minneapolis police officers responded to the 5600 block of Girard Avenue North on a report of a person who had been shot.

Minneapolis police found the victim a short while later — was lying on the ground near a pickup truck that had a bullet hole in the windshield — and rendered medical aid. She was then taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries, according to a press release.

The investigation revealed that the woman had been shot in Brooklyn Center. Multiple people were taken into custody, law enforcement executed search warrants, collected evidence and interviewed potential witnesses.

Julius Matease Smith, 24, is charged with second-degree manslaughter — with culpable negligence creating unreasonable risk — according to a criminal complaint. He was booked into Hennepin County Jail Thursday night on a probation violation.

The complaint states that Smith had been sitting in the truck behind the victim; two witnesses also in the pickup identified Smith as the culprit who had shot her but described the incident as an accident.

Smith claims that he and the occupants of the truck were robbed at gunpoint through the window by two men, according to the complaint. He said that one suspect’s gun appeared to be fake, so he tried to knock it from the man’s hand. The gun then discharged and killed the woman.

Surveillance video obtained by police corroborated the witnesses’ accounts and "disproves" Smith’s claims, the complaint says.

Smith’s first appearance in court is Tuesday.