A man in a cream-colored hooded sweatshirt opened fire outside a Saint Paul building in the early morning hours, killing one man and injuring two others as a crowd gathered for an after party.
Christopher Germaine Burke-Harris, 37, of Saint Paul, faces a charge of 2nd-degree murder with intent, not premeditated, according to a complaint filed Monday in Ramsey County District Court.
Officers responded to the area of Edmund Avenue and Kent Street at about 4:20 a.m. on July 18 after callers reported hearing 20 gunshots. When officers arrived, they found a group of people performing CPR on the victim, who was unresponsive and bleeding heavily from the face and head. Officers took over CPR and struggled to control the crowd while medics loaded the victim into an ambulance. The victim was pronounced dead a short time later.
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Investigators recovered spent shell casings at the southwest corner of Edmund Avenue and Kent Street, as well as additional casings and blood in a nearby doorway. In total, officers found 26 casings of various calibers at the scene.
A woman who arrived at Regions Hospital with a gunshot wound to her leg told police she had been at an after party celebrating her fiancé’s brother’s birthday. She described seeing a man in a dirty green pullover hooded sweatshirt who appeared angry. She heard someone say, “Not here. Not here, bro,” before the man pulled a black handgun from his sweatshirt pocket. She ran as shots rang out and was struck in the leg. She did not know the shooter.
Burke-Harris also arrived at Regions Hospital with a gunshot wound to his upper thigh, transported by a woman who said she did not know him but agreed to drive him after a crowd asked for help. Burke-Harris told investigators he was celebrating the anniversary of his release from prison with family and did not know most people at the party. He said he was outside in a crowd when gunfire erupted, never saw who shot him and denied being involved in any violence.
Surveillance video showed Burke-Harris wearing a red hat and white shirt before changing into a cream-colored hooded sweatshirt. The footage captured him approaching the victim, pointing with his left hand as the victim backed away, then pulling a handgun from his sweatshirt pocket and firing five times. Officers recovered shell casings from the area where Burke-Harris fired. The complaint notes it is unclear who shot Burke-Harris.
A family member of the victim told police that witnesses identified Burke-Harris as the shooter. Burke-Harris admitted to being the man in the red hat and white shirt in the surveillance images but denied being the shooter when shown footage of himself in the hooded sweatshirt.
A court date has not yet been set.
About This Charge
In Minnesota, homicide charges fall under three degrees: § 609.185 (first-degree murder), § 609.19 (second-degree murder) and § 609.195 (third-degree murder). First-degree murder carries a mandatory life sentence; second-degree convictions are presumptive 12 to 40 years; third-degree up to 25 years. The Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Commission publishes guideline ranges that judges follow except where specific aggravating or mitigating factors are on the record.
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Jurisdictional Context
Ramsey County encompasses Saint Paul and is served by the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office. Felony cases are heard in the Second Judicial District at the Ramsey County Courthouse in downtown Saint Paul; the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office operates the Ramsey County Correctional Facility in Maplewood.
