St. Paul teens charged with murder of man 'hunted' and shot dead in front of family
Two St. Paul teenagers have been charged in the fatal shooting of a man who was "hunted" before being gunned down in front of family members in the city's Frogtown neighborhood.
Jehovah Mekieyale Nelson, 19, and Kenneth Eugene Terry, 18, have each been charged in the shooting death of 24-year-old Dejaun Hemphill on Nov. 5, 2024, near Rice Street and University Avenue.
Hemphill ultimately died from a gunshot wound to the back of the head 10 days after the shooting, according to an autopsy. A surgeon told police that Hemphill's case was "one of the worst she had worked on."Nelson and Terry were both arrested on Thursday.
According to a GoFundMe set up to raise money for funeral expenses, Hemphill was the father of a four-month-old son, "who will now experience life without him."
According to the criminal complaint, officers were in the area of the shooting just before 5 p.m. when they heard 3-4 shots being fired. Police saw a man run across Rice Street and disappear inside a construction site.
Officers found the man, identified as "JT" in the complaint, who told them he had been walking with his cousins — including Hemphill — to Sunrise Grocery and Tobacco and had stopped at an ATM to grab some cash. That's when they claimed someone shot at them from behind. JT said he didn't see who shot at them as he fled on foot and noticed when he looked back that Hemphill was lying on the sidewalk. He added that he didn't know they were being "hunted" at the time.
Hemphill, unresponsive, was taken to Regions Hospital, where he later died.
Officers found three spent .40 caliber casings along University Avenue West, according to the complaint.
Investigators identified Nelson through surveillance footage from the day before, at University Avenue and Lexington Parkway. A person wearing the same clothes was seen an hour before Hemphill was killed on Nov. 5. The only difference was that Nelson was wearing a black mask the day before and a white mask the day of the shooting, covering his entire face.
According to the charges, Terry was later identified through surveillance video showing him inside the convenience store around 4 p.m. on Nov. 5. About 40 minutes later, Hemphill and his cousins were seen entering the store, and when they left, Terry was seen looking out the window several times.
Another video showed Nelson and Terry running through a parking lot on the north side of Sunrise Bank at 200 University Avenue at 4:54 p.m. Nelson, identified as the shooter in the video, is seen taking up a firing stance, with Hemphill falling to the ground moments later.
Three days after the shooting, a man saw someone breaking into his sister's car on the 3500 block of Minnehaha Avenue in Minneapolis. After the man ran out to confront the thief, a GMC Terrain pulled up, and a backseat passenger shot at the man, according to the complaint.
The SUV appeared at a hospital about 20 minutes later, where it dropped off a man with a graze wound to his head. The wounded man was identified as Terry.
Authorities found a backpack inside the SUV with Nelson's school ID. Police also found a white Michael Myers mask that matched the one worn by the shooter.
Investigators also confiscated Nelson's and Terry's cellphones after obtaining a warrant for each, discovering photos and videos that contained the Michael Myers mask and a gun.
A woman who has a child with Terry told police she believed the shooting happened because she had been hanging out with one of Hemphill's younger brothers, which made Terry jealous.
Nelson is charged with one count of 2nd-degree murder and two counts of 2nd-degree attempted murder. Terry is charged with aiding and abetting 2nd-degree murder. Both are in custody at the Ramsey County Jail and made their first court appearances on Friday.
Bring Me The News reached out to the attorneys representing Nelson and Terry in the case for comment but haven't heard back.
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