A man left a Saint Paul apartment building concealing something long in his arm after another man was shot in the upper thigh, charges allege.
Ryan Michael Merchant faces charges of first-degree drug sale and possessing a firearm or ammunition as a person barred due to a prior violent crime conviction, according to a complaint filed October 23 in Ramsey County District Court.
According to the complaint, officers were sent to an apartment building in Saint Paul at about 10:45 p.m. on October 22 after a caller reported hearing a man scream, “Oh my God, why would you do that? What the hell!” Officers found the victim lying on the floor outside an apartment rented by Merchant, suffering from a gunshot wound near his pelvis.
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The victim told officers he did not know who shot him or why he was at the apartment. Officers applied a tourniquet and medics transported the victim to the hospital.
The victim’s wife told officers the victim had left to visit a friend named Ryan. She said the victim called her and yelled, “I’ve been shot!” and she heard him yell, “You shot me! You shot me!” before the call disconnected.
Officers found the door to Merchant’s apartment partially open and entered to check for anyone needing medical help. They saw rifle ammunition in plain view on a table. Surveillance video showed Merchant leaving the building concealing something long in his arm. Officers noted that shrapnel from the gunshot entered a neighboring apartment, where a tenant reported hearing a gunshot and screaming but was too scared to investigate. Officers found bullet fragments in the tenant’s bathroom.
A search warrant was obtained for Merchant’s apartment. Officers recovered eight rifle rounds, two orange pill containers, one with folded paper containing suspected methamphetamine and one with round, orange pills marked “3 0 dp“, and a black plastic bag marked “1000 DP” containing dozens of similar pills.
The orange pills were identified as Adderall, which contains amphetamine, a Schedule II controlled substance. Officers also found a bag of suspected methamphetamine in the hallway near a fresh blood stain.
Merchant returned to the apartment while officers were on scene and was arrested. He spontaneously said it was loud and he left because he was scared, and twice stated he was defending himself. Merchant claimed he had swallowed drugs and was taken to the hospital for evaluation before being medically cleared and booked into jail.
Testing confirmed the presence of methamphetamine in the paper recovered from the apartment, weighing a combined 1.94 grams. The pill bottle contained 133 orange pills, and the black bag contained pills weighing 313.73 grams.
According to the complaint, Merchant has six prior felony convictions, including second- and fifth-degree controlled substance crimes, burglary in the third-degree, theft, financial transaction card fraud and check forgery. One of those convictions makes him ineligible to possess firearms or ammunition.
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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; Ramsey County Community Corrections operates the Ramsey County Correctional Facility in Maplewood.
