Man Charged After Allegedly Shooting at Mother Near Metro State

May 4

*An email sent by* ***Metro State University*** *on Thursday advising students of a shots fired incident nearby.*

A Saint Paul man has been charged after allegedly firing almost a dozen gunshots at his mother in broad daylight during a confrontation near Metro State University.

Elijah Dontrel Lowe, 22, is charged in Ramsey County with second-degree attempted murder and felony possession of a machine gun.

The charges stem from the May 1 incident that sent Metro State into lockdown and left a red Ford Explorer riddled with bullet holes outside a nearby residence. The lockdown lasted about 25 minutes and there were no injuries reported.

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According to the criminal complaint, police responded around 12:30 p.m. to reports of gunfire in the 600 block of Sixth Street East. Witnesses described a Black male wearing a camouflage hoodie who had opened fire following an argument with someone inside a red SUV. Officers recovered 11 spent shell casings from the parking lot across from the university, the documents say.

While officers were still on scene, a woman identified as Lowe’s mother approached and told police she had been the target of the shooting. She said the suspect was her son and they had gotten into an argument earlier in the day. The argument ended with her ordering Lowe to leave their home on the 300 block of Bates Avenue and to not return. Lowe initially left the home and a short time later, the woman drove off in her red Ford Explorer.

The victim then encountered Lowe in a parking lot near Sixth Street. She rolled down her window and told him again not to come back. The woman told investigators Lowe then became enraged, pulled out a gun and opened fire on her vehicle as she drove away. She told officers she felt bullets strike the SUV.

Officers later found her Explorer parked back at her residence. The vehicle had a shattered rear window, a broken driver’s side window and multiple bullet holes along the driver's side.

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Police arrested Lowe outside the home while he was engaged in another argument with his mother. He had an empty handgun magazine on him at the time and had discarded his camouflage hoodie. A police canine later located a Glock 10mm handgun with a trigger activator hidden inside a backyard grill. The recovered firearm was missing its magazine.

Lowe waived his rights and agreed to speak with investigators, according to the complaint. He admitted arguing with his mother and said she had kicked him out of the house. He claimed that after their confrontation continued in the street, he became so angry he "blacked out." When asked how many times he fired, Lowe told investigators he believed it was 10 or 11 times.

He said he returned to his mother’s house afterward to see if she was okay. Lowe acknowledged that the Glock found in the grill belonged to him and that he’d hidden it there.

Court records show Lowe has four prior felony convictions, including two for possession of a firearm by an ineligible person, as well as convictions for first-degree aggravated robbery and simple robbery. All four are classified as violent crimes under Minnesota law.

He was released from the Minnesota Department of Corrections just over two months ago, on Feb. 27, 2025, and was out on conditional release related to felon-in-possession and auto sear charges in a separate Hennepin County case. That case, filed in March, remains pending.

Lowe was scheduled to make an initial court appearance on Monday.

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