Teen Certified as Adult in Minneapolis April Murder Case

An 18-year-old has been charged with second-degree murder in connection with a fatal shooting during an alleged drug deal earlier this year in Minneapolis.

According to a criminal complaint filed Monday,Darnail Arnez La Brecis accused of working with two others to set up and carry out the killing of a man on April 19 at the Peregrine Apartments on West River Road North.

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Police were called to the apartment complex around 10:18 p.m. after reports of gunfire and a vehicle crashing into the underground parking entrance. Officers found the victim, 27-year-old Davione Daunte Charles Collins,dead in the driver’s seatof a silver Nissan Altima with a gunshot wound to his upper neck. The medical examiner later determined the bullet severed his vertebrae, killing him instantly.

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Investigators say the shooting involved La Brec, then 17, and 20-year-old Jayce Nasir Cuff, along with another teenager. Surveillance video captured Collins vehicle pulling into the lot as two people approached the driver’s side window. Moments later, both extended their arms toward the car, appearing to fire. The car rolled forward and down the ramp as the two ran back into the building, where video confirmed La Brec and Cuff reentered through the north door to meet the third participant.

Detectives reviewed phones recovered at the scene. Inside the victim’s vehicle, they found suspected marijuana packaged for sale, extra baggies and a digital scale. One phone linked to La Brec contained photos of him holding a 9mm Glock with an illegal auto switch days before the shooting, as well as messages investigators interpreted as a plan to rob someone for drugs. Another phone linked to the third teenager showed messages coordinating the marijuana sale with the victim and directing him to the back parking lot of the Peregrine Apartments.