Two men face felony charges after they allegedly fired shots near Wilder Recreation Center on Saint Paul’s East Side, sending bullets into a nearby home and garage.
The shooting happened around 7:05 p.m. on Saturday, May 2.
Ladarrius Lavon Grandberry, 18, and Tyler Lashun Payne, 19, each face two felony counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon and reckless discharge of a firearm within a municipality, according to criminal complaints filed in Ramsey County District Court.
Police responded to reports of shots fired at the intersection of Sims Avenue and Greenbrier Street, the complaints say. While on scene, officers heard two volleys of shots fired to the west and multiple additional calls came in reporting shots fired.
Officers drove to the area of Payne Avenue and York Avenue, where they saw several people running southbound on Payne Avenue from Sims Avenue. Police chased and detained Grandberry, finding a magazine in the left pocket of his zip-up sweatshirt and a handgun near his feet. Grandberry kicked the handgun toward the fence, according to the complaint.
The firearm didn’t have a visible serial number and officers observed a malfunction where the spent casing was backwards in the chamber. Police also found the loaded magazine inside a cut hole in the pocket of Grandberry’s sweatshirt, along with suspected narcotics in his pants pocket.
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Several other people identified as involved in the shooting were found and detained inside the East Side Market at 962 Burr Street. The store owner told police where the group had walked inside the store, and an officer searched the shelves in that area, finding disorganized items. Behind the items, the officer found a Glock 17 handgun with an extended magazine. A review of store video showed Payne removing the handgun from his waistband and placing it on the shelf where the officer recovered it, court documents say.
Following a Miranda advisory, Grandberry told police his younger brother had been having ongoing issues with other juveniles at school. He said a group of 20 people had showed up at their house earlier that day to try to fight his brother, and his mother called him to help. Later, Grandberry said he and some friends, including his brother, went to Wilder Recreation Center to hang out. Grandberry told police he grabbed a gun from his house for protection due to the ongoing issues his brother was facing, the complaint states.
Shortly after arriving at the rec center park, Grandberry said a group of about eight people began verbally challenging them from across the park. He said most of the group were wearing masks concealing their faces, and some had bags on their chest and insinuated that they had guns.
Grandberry told police he and Payne turned to walk through an alley then heard several gunshots. He said he assumed the group from the park was shooting at them, although he didn’t see who was shooting or where the shots were coming from, and he and Payne shot back toward the entrance of the alley, court documents state. Grandberry said he shot one time then his gun malfunctioned. He told police he thought Payne shot five or six times.
Following a separate Miranda advisory, Payne told police he and his friends were walking to the store when a group of people in two vehicles confronted them. He said the group said something about ”Glock boy” before someone shot at them, so he shot back.
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Payne said they were crossing the grassy field at the recreation center when the group in and around the vehicles yelled at them. He said he and his friends turned around, walked eastbound on Sims Avenue and turned into an alley. When they reached a T-intersection, Payne said someone started shooting at him from the front gate of a home on the 900 block of Edgerton Street. He said he shot back toward the male, then they fled toward Payne Avenue and went inside the East Side Market.
Payne admitted he hid his firearm on a shelf behind food items, according to the complaint. He told police he got the gun a few weeks earlier from his cousin in Tennessee when he went down for a visit.
A witness told police a group had been hanging out by their cars on Jessie Street when a group of juveniles came on foot from Sims Avenue. The witness said the group by the cars started yelling at the group on foot, and the groups exchanged words. The group on foot ran around a building, and the group by the cars got in their vehicles, drove on Case Avenue, turned onto Edgerton Street and started shooting, the witness reported. The witness took photographs of two of the suspect vehicles and provided them to police.
Bullets struck at least two nearby properties. One resident told police his detached garage was hit, and officers observed a bullet hole in the garage door and two bullet holes in the siding. Another resident reported her home was shot at. Police found two bullet holes in the rear door frame and a bullet impact on top of the two bullet holes. Inside, there was damage to the refrigerator handle, and a bullet fragment was found underneath a kitchen table next to the refrigerator.
Both Grandberry and Payne are being held on $50,000 bail each. If convicted of the top charge, each faces a maximum sentence of seven years in prison or a $14,000 fine, or both.
