Rec Center Employee Accused of Shooting Teen in Head
Prosecutors have charged a 26-year-old Saint Paul recreation center employee with attempted murder and assault after he allegedly shot and critically injured a 16-year-old boy earlier this week.
Exavir Dwayne Binford, Jr., of Saint Paul, is charged with one count of 2nd-degree attempted murder and one count of 1st-degree assault for the shooting at Jimmy Lee Rec Center, 270 Lexington Pkwy. N.
Police were called around 4:15 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 18 on a report of a teenager who had been shot. They found the 16-year-old victim—identified in court documents as “JT”—in the parking lot with a gunshot wound to his forehead.
The shooter was described to officers as a black male wearing a “Jimmy Lee” t-shirt who fled the scene toward Marshall Ave.
Witnesses told police that before the shooting, a large group of students left Central High School and walked the short distance to the rec center after school. There was a fight among several girls at the rec center and Binford allegedly came out of the building, telling the students to leave.
Saint Paul police officers responded at the time and calmed things down, leaving the scene shortly after.
After officers left, Binford locked students out of the building while several remained outside in the parking lot.
A girl who was still inside the building got permission from another employee to have her male cousin come inside the rec center. Binford was upset and argued with the girl, allegedly calling her a “b*tch” twice. “JT” then said something to Binford, which reportedly started the confrontation.
One of the witnesses overheard Binford say, “If I got to kill somebody I will. I don’t give a f***,” the court documents allege.
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Binford pulled down his coat and showed “JT” and another juvenile a gun that was inside his waistband, the documents said.
Other witnesses told officers they saw the victim “JT” and another juvenile arguing with Binford in front of the main door of the rec center. The group was physically fighting, eventually ending up in the parking lot, the witnesses said. Binford fought with the two juvenile males and a juvenile female joined in.
The juveniles reportedly grabbed and punched Binford, with the fight lasting a few seconds. None of the juveniles were armed, the documents said.
After the fight, Binford backed up, pulled out a firearm and shot once at the two teens in the parking lot, with “JT” struck by the bullet and collapsing to the ground.
“JT” was taken to Regions hospital and underwent emergency neurosurgery, the documents said, and he remains in intensive care Friday with a life-threatening injury.
TWITTER: Our initial thread on the shooting
Surveillance video from the rec center is motion-activated, blurry and had a delay during the incident, the documents said, and the video system does not appear to have caught the shooting
Within an hour of the shooting, Ramsey County sheriff’s deputies stopped Binford’s vehicle on the 1600 block of Stillwater Avenue E. and Binford was taken into custody. Deputies recovered a Taurus 9mm handgun with a round of ammunition in its chamber. An officer pointed out that Binford’s jacket was ripped, to which Binford replied, “Yeah, because I was attacked,” and that he couldn’t wait to get his version of the events off his chest.
Officers interviewed Binford’s mother, who said that her son works at the rec center and runs the whole building. He called her around 4:30 p.m. that day, allegedly telling her that he”did something bad. I think I killed someone.”
Binford told her that some kids he “always has problems with” walked over to the rec center from Central High School, the documents said. One of the kids jumped on him, he said, and he got up and walked away from the boy to separate himself from the situation. Binford then fired one shot at the boy, he told his mother, saying that he felt bad about the altercation, that he knew he shouldn’t have done it and was disappointed in himself.
Officers advised Binford of his constitutional rights and he agreed to speak to investigators. Binford said he had a problem with “JT” ever since he started working at Jimmy Lee, and that “JT” and his group fought at Central High School and at the rec center.
Binford said on the day of the shooting, the rec center got a call from the high school advising that there had been problems at the school that day. Staff knew the warning meant the rec center should lock their doors to prevent trouble from the school from spilling over into the rec center, the documents said.
Binford told investigators of the fight at the rec center and that he had locked the doors because of the fight. He “had words” with a girl who had let her brother into the building, he told investigators, and that her brother was denied entry to the building because he was part of the group that was causing trouble.
Binford explained to the girl she had to understand the rec center’s rules. He said that he “got fed up,” clocked out, and left the building.
Binford told investigators that he heard the girl talking about him to her friends as he was leaving the building, and he told her to “shut the f*** up,” the documents say. The girl confronted Binford and told him not to talk to her like that, and “JT” intervened.
Binford said that at the time he felt threatened by the juveniles, and that he overheard “JT” tell another teen to call someone “to bring all the sticks,” which Binford interpreted as an instruction to bring weapons to the rec center.
He told investigators that he only brought out his gun after the fight. “I ain’t gonna lie—I pulled my pistol and shit.” Binford told investigators, “I just felt like if you wouldn’t put your hands on me this wouldn’t happen, you know what I’m saying?”
After the shooting, Binford said he took a bus downtown and called his mother to confess. He admitted that he had his gun at the rec center and that the rec center management didn’t know he carried it while at work.
Binford has a valid permit to carry in Ramsey County. If convicted, he could face a maximum sentence of 20 years on each charge.
TWITTER: Our initial thread on the shooting
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