Three of the suspects
Formal charges filed against four people allegedly involved in a fatal North St. Paul shooting reveal that the 24-year-old victim was 3D-printing “ghost guns” and the suspects dropped two bags of firearms as they fled the murder scene.
According to court documents, at around 6:13 p.m. on Monday, June 19, officers were sent to the apartment building on the 2100 block of McKnight Rd. N. for a report of a male with a handgun near one of the apartment units. A woman had reportedly banged on an apartment door and yelled, “He’s dead! He’s dead!”
Officers made entry into the apartment and found a black shotgun and a bulletproof vest on the hallway floor leading up to the back bedrooms. Further down the hallway, officers saw the victim, Anthony R. Rojas, 24, lying on the floor with a gunshot wound to the right side of his head.
Medics arrived after the scene had been secured and pronounced Rojas dead. Officers also saw two open and empty gun safes, a 3D printer, a money counter, boxes of ammunition and rifle magazines in the apartment. It appeared that Rojas was using the 3D printer to create lower receivers for handguns, the court documents say.
Investigators learned that Rojas had posted a social media photo just 12 hours before his death that showed thousands of dollars in cash laid out on a couch at his apartment. The money was not recovered after he was fatally shot. At 6:21 p.m., a person called 911 and reported a juvenile male who had a gun in his pocket dropped two bags of handguns on the 2100 block of Burke Ave., just west of the building where the shooting took place.
Officers recovered a black backpack and a blue bag that contained fifteen Glock 9mm handguns. One of the guns had a magazine in it that contained ammunition and had what appeared to be blood on its grip. An AR-style pistol and two large-capacity magazines were also in one of the bags.
TWITTER: Our original thread on the shooting
Neighbors said Rojas “seemed to be partying all day” with a group of men and one woman. Shortly before the shooting, a woman and a group of males were arguing north of the residence. Two black males walked up to the apartment and Rojas yelled down to them, asking what they were doing. The woman appeared to wait outside the door. A shot was heard and shortly after, a woman knocked on the door of the unit. The woman yelled that the victim was already dead and multiple people were seen running from the apartment.
The two black males were described as in their late teens or early 20s. One had long dreads, wore a red hoodie and a face mask, had a gun tucked in his waistband and fled with a large, black bag. The other black male was tall and thin with shorter hair and possibly wore a green sweatshirt. The second male tried to shove a gun in his sweatshirt as he ran away, while also carrying a bluish-purple bag. The female ran away with the two black males while carrying a large duffle bag. A teenage white male holding a gun was also seen running to a vehicle and then leaving in the opposite direction. One other male--described as being a larger-build Hispanic or black male with a cast on his arm--was seen at the apartment with Rojas shortly before the homicide, but he was later seen at the Holiday gas station next door asking to use people’s phones to get an Uber, the documents said.
Rojas’ mother lives nearby and told police she saw people hanging out with her son at around 1:45 p.m. that day. She identified the woman seen prior to the shooting as Rojas’ “new girlfriend,” La Vida Rose Martinez, 19. The mother’s description of the men who were with her son matched the descriptions of the men seen fleeing the scene. She mentioned that her son was worried for his safety since someone had just shot at his car a few days earlier. Rojas’ mother believed that the black male with the mask and dreads was Martinez’s ex-boyfriend. She said the larger black or Hispanic male with a cast on his arm goes by “Six.”
