Woman dies nearly a week after triple shooting at Minneapolis encampment; suspect charged

A woman who was shot last week at a Minneapolis homeless encampment has died from her injuries, according to a release from the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Samantha Jo Moss, 35, of St. Louis Park, was one of three people who were shot on Oct. 27 in a small tent encampment on 44th Street between Lyndale and Hiawatha avenues. She was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center with life-threatening injuries but was pronounced dead on Saturday.

The two other victims — Louis Mitchell Lemons Jr., 32, of Brooklyn Center and Christopher Martell Washington, 38, of Fridley — were pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Minneapolis Police Department.

Police believe the shooter in this case is a man who was arrested last week after St. Paul police officers shot him in an unrelated incident.

Earl Bennett, 40, drew fire from law enforcement the night of Oct. 28 after he allegedly refused to put down a gun and then pointed it at St. Paul officers near the intersection of Snelling and University avenues in St. Paul’s Hamline-Midway neighborhood.

Police later learned Bennett had shot and critically injured a man earlier in the evening at a sober living home on the 3500 block of Columbus Avenue South.

On Monday, Hennepin County prosecutors charged Bennett with three counts of second-degree murder in the Oct. 27 triple homicide.

According to a criminal complaint, a witness told police a man who identified himself as “E” rode an e-bike to the tent encampment, asked to see one of the victims inside of the tent and began shooting 10 to 15 minutes after being allowed inside. Surveillance video of the incident shows him leaving the tent and riding away along the railroad tracks.

Investigators recovered nine spent 9 mm cartridge casings inside the tent. A Sig Sauer firearm recovered at the site of the police shooting in St. Paul matched with the casings found at both the sober house and the encampment scenes in Minneapolis.

In addition to the second-degree murder charges, Bennett faces one count of attempted first-degree murder in connection with the Columbus Avenue shooting and counts of second-degree assault and illegal gun possession in the encounter with St. Paul police.

Bennett remains in custody at the Hennepin County Jail in lieu of $2 million bail. His next court appearance is scheduled for Wednesday.