A Bemidji woman drove to Red Lake Nation to avoid arrest after the man in her passenger seat shot another man in the back at a Beltrami County trailer park in May, according to a criminal complaint.
Kacy Janelle Smith, who was 18 at the time of the alleged offense, is charged in Beltrami County District Court with felony aiding an offender to avoid arrest. The complaint was filed Oct. 27. It says she has no prior convictions in Minnesota.
Beltrami County dispatchers got a call at about 2:27 p.m. May 15 reporting gunshots and a man shot at the Little Norway trailer park, the complaint says. Callers described the suspect vehicle as a blue Honda driven by a woman. Officers found the man on his hands and knees outside a home with a gunshot wound in his upper back near his spine. He began bleeding from the mouth and struggled to breathe.
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A woman who was with the victim told deputies the two had run into a man at a skate park, then left on their bicycles as he followed them on a bike, according to the complaint. She said a blue Honda sedan later came up behind them and appeared to be trying to hit the victim. She realized the man from the skate park was inside. When they reached the trailer park, the car pulled up and she heard one or two gunshots.
Red Lake police stopped the Honda within Red Lake Nation at about 3:27 p.m. with Smith and the man from the skate park, who was 18, inside, the complaint says. The car was registered to Smith. She told investigators the man pulled out a pistol and shot the victim once from inside the car, then yelled at her to drive off. She said they stopped along the way so he could throw things out of the car.
A search of the car turned up a box of .22-caliber hollow-point bullets that appeared to be missing nine rounds, according to the complaint. The man later admitted shooting the victim but said he was not aiming at him and acted in self-defense. He said Smith knew he had the gun. He was charged May 18 with first-degree assault in the shooting.
In a June 30 interview, Smith said the victim had been acting aggressively toward them and she was scared, according to the complaint. She admitted she was bringing the man to fight the victim and had texted him that the victim was at the skate park. She also admitted she knew law enforcement was looking for them and drove to Red Lake to avoid being caught.
The victim was flown to a hospital in Fargo. His injuries included a damaged artery, a fractured vertebra and a broken rib, the complaint says. He was hospitalized until May 20 and again from May 25 to June 4.
