A drive-by shooting in south Minneapolis in late May that left a man dead has resulted in murder charges against a 21-year-old suspect.
Raquan Rahjai Johnson, of Fridley, has been charged with one count of second-degree murder for a drive-by shooting and two counts of drive-by shooting toward a person. The murder charge carries a maximum sentence of 40 years, and each of the two drive-by shooting counts carries a maximum of 10 years and/or $20,000.
Minneapolis police were called around 12:20 a.m. on May 25 to the 4100 block of Columbus Avenue for a report of a shooting, according to a criminal complaint. Officers found a man dead from an apparent gunshot wound to the chest.
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Two people who had been with the victim said an unknown vehicle drove past and fired at them, the complaint states. Surveillance video showed a suspect vehicle circling the block several times. Officers recovered 32 discharged cartridge casings from six different guns on 41st and 42nd Streets. Surveillance video and a neighbor’s account indicate the first round of gunfire happened near 42nd Street, where 23 of the casings were recovered, followed by a second round on 41st Street and a final round back on 42nd Street.
One of the 9mm casings matched a casing from an earlier shooting in north Minneapolis. That shooting happened around 5:07 p.m. on May 24 in the 700 block of Penn Avenue North, about seven hours before the fatal shooting. A witness identified Johnson as the shooter in the Penn Avenue case.
Data from Johnson’s ankle monitor and his cellphone placed him at the Columbus Avenue scene at the time of the shooting, court records show.
Officers arrested Johnson on June 5. After being read his rights, he admitted he was the shooter in the Penn Avenue shooting, the complaint says. He told investigators that afterward, he was driving two friends around when one of them got into an argument over the phone with someone who told them to come to the area of East 29th Street. Johnson said he drove there knowing they were going to get into a gunfight. He said his friends then shot at the three people in the alley, including the victim, while he circled the block and the gunfire continued. Johnson said that when one of his friends ran out of bullets, he handed the friend his gun.
Johnson said his friends fired the shots. Under Minnesota law, a person can be charged with a crime carried out by others if they intentionally help commit it.
The victim has not been publicly identified.
Johnson is being held at the Hennepin County Jail on $1 million bail with conditions. His first court appearance was scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.
