At around 10:40 AM on November 7, 2025, officers went to Northern Iron at [ADDRESS REDACTED], St. Paul on a carjacking. Officers found DM [DOB REDACTED] with a gunshot wound to his right quadricep. Officers applied a tourniquet to DM’s leg, and medics transported DM to the hospital. Officers recovered two spent.45 caliber casings at the scene. DM told officers he had spent his break inside his 2020 Jeep Grand Cherokee bearing Minnesota license plates ZMP642 in the parking lot. When his break ended DM got out of the Jeep and was heading back to work when a Black male wearing all black and a facemask ran towards him with a black handgun repeatedly yelling, “Give me the f****** money.” The robber pistol-whipped DM in the head twice, ripped DM’s shirt off, and took the Jeep’s keys.
The robber got into DM’s Jeep, and DM put the robber in a headlock. They struggled and DM slipped. The robber fired once missing DM. The robber then placed the gun on DM’s upper thigh and fired. The robber got back into DM’s Jeep and drove east on Phalen Boulevard. DM said he had recently taken out a $10,000 loan and had $17,000 in a bag in the Jeep’s cargo area. At the hospital DM’s brother said DM had sold a snowmobile for $6900 and had another $7000 that he had been flashing around. DM’s brother believed DM had been set up by someone he worked with.
DM’s ex-girlfriend told police she spoke to DM on the phone while he was on his break. DM told her he needed to get back to work and their call ended. DM called her back around 9 minutes later saying he had been robbed and shot. She confirmed DM had been carrying around a large amount of cash. At 1:46 AM on November 8, 2025, officers recovered DM’s stolen Jeep at [ADDRESS REDACTED] East in St. Paul. Officers towed the Jeep and processed it for evidence. Officers recovered a bag with over $13,000 from the back of the Jeep.
Officers swabbed the Jeep’s interior for DNA. Officers recovered a palm print from CH [DOB REDACTED] from the driver’s exterior door. DM later confirmed he had around $17,000 in cash in two different places inside the Jeep. He had a roll of money in the driver’s side door well that had been taken. DM said he and CH are friends. CH was at DM’s window leaning in and talking to DM on their break before the shooting. An investigator noted that it is not easy to find the parking lot where the carjacking and shooting occurred unless you were familiar with the area or had received specific instructions as to how to get there.
Surveillance video from the area at the time of the carjacking showed a small black figure running west from a gated entrance along the fence line towards where DM was parked in the lot. DM’s Jeep was out of camera view. On December 18, 2025, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension returned a report on the examination of physical evidence. A DNA profile obtained from the Jeep’s shifter was searched through the Minnesota convicted offender database and matches the DNA profile of PERRY JOSEPH HOOPER [DOB REDACTED]. Investigators identified a phone number for Hooper.
