A 33-year-old man with reported ties to the “Latin Kings” gang has been charged with shooting another man inside a Saint Paul apartment, severing an artery and nearly killing him, court documents say.
Chaz Robert Hughes, of South St. Paul, faces charges of first-degree assault, two counts of first-degree burglary and two counts of felon in possession of a firearm. He has seven prior felony convictions.
According to the complaint, officers responded to a shooting at an apartment building at 1956 Maryland Avenue East around 1 a.m. on Monday, March 2. They found the victim inside an apartment and with gunshot wounds to both legs. His jeans were soaked in blood and a pool of blood had formed on the floor.
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Officers applied tourniquets to both legs, the victim was rushed to the hospital and taken into surgery with life-threatening injuries. The bullet had entered his left leg, traveled around his pelvis and exited his right leg, severing an artery. Doctors said he had about five minutes left when he arrived at the hospital and a vein was harvested from one of his legs to repair the damage.
The victim told officers he had been staying in the apartment when Hughes came over. He said they asked Hughes to leave, and Hughes told them he would come back with his friends. Hughes returned with four to six others. He told the victim he had “something that will take care of you,” then allegedly pulled out a black handgun and shot the victim in the leg at close range.
A woman who was in the apartment gave a different account of the events leading up to the shooting. She said the victim had invited Hughes to the apartment to keep her safe after she was sexually assaulted the day before. Hughes was there for about two hours before the victim and Hughes got into an argument. The victim allegedly pulled a knife and threatened to slit Hughes’ throat. Hughes left and returned with three of his relatives, and another confrontation broke out at the front door before the shooting.
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Officers found a single spent .22-caliber casing near the apartment door and a bullet fragment on the floor next to the pool of blood.
Witnesses outside the apartment identified Hughes through his Facebook page. Surveillance video from the building showed a Tahoe pull into the parking lot. A man got out of the driver’s seat and went to the upstairs apartment with four others. The man’s face and a distinctive tattoo above his left eye were visible in the footage, matching Hughes.
The video showed the group was inside the apartment for about 25 minutes. About 17 minutes in, one of the men left and got into the Tahoe. Hughes and three others then left the apartment and ran east through the parking lot.
Hughes has seven prior felony convictions including second-degree assault, third-degree assault, escape from custody, a domestic abuse no-contact order violation, two motor vehicle thefts and two convictions for fleeing police in a motor vehicle.
His first appearance was Wednesday morning and Hughes remains in custody at the Ramsey County Adult Detention Center, with bail set at $400,000.
