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Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Yahoo
St. Paul shooter gets 19½-year prison sentence for killing man on University Avenue who had his back to him
E'Shaun Maurice Funches said during his presentence investigation that his killing of 30-year-old Alfonzo Avery Armstead in St. Paul was 'about two men's egos and pride,' his attorney told the court Thursday. Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Ryan Flynn said it is more than an 'ego-based decision.' 'It is an impulsive ego decision that was empowered with the abilities of a gun,' Flynn said. 'A few seconds and the defendant stole away a life. And he also stole from the victim's family and his loved ones.' Judge Laura Nelson went on to sentence Funches to 19½ years in prison, a term that was agreed upon as part of a plea agreement he reached with the prosecution in the daytime shooting of Armstead outside Sunrise Grocery and Tobacco on University Avenue on Dec. 13, 2023. Funches, 24, of St. Paul, pleaded guilty in February to second-degree unintentional murder and possession of a firearm by an ineligible person. A charge of second-degree murder with intent was dismissed at sentencing. Funches was arrested shortly after running away from the shooting and denied being the shooter. However, his friend and his friend's girlfriend who had picked him up for a ride — as well as video surveillance footage — told a different story, according to the criminal complaint, which didn't offer a motive in the case. Funches got out of a Nissan Rogue around 2:45 p.m. and quickly walked toward Armstead, who was standing outside the store. His back was turned to Funches, who opened fire on him. Armstead, who had gunshot wounds to his back, left leg and abdomen, died at Regions Hospital. 'What possesses a man to play God and take a life that he didn't give is beyond us,' Armstead's sister and brother said in a victim impact statement read in court by the prosecutor. 'The hurt and pain will never go away. We will never get over this ordeal.' Less than a month before the killing, Funches completed a three-year probation term in a 2019 aggravated robbery case out of Minneapolis. The complaint says a police officer in an unmarked squad heard the call about the shooting and saw Funches walking off a path wearing black pants and carrying black clothes draped over his arm. The officer watched Funches try to discard items in a dumpster in a church parking lot on Central Avenue. Funches was unable to open the dumpster, so he walked away carrying the items. The officer stopped Funches, who dropped the clothes. He tried to walk away, but was arrested when more officers arrived. Funches was trying to discard a black pair of pants and a black jacket that matched the one worn by the shooter. His shoes also matched those worn by the shooter. A canine tracked from the shooting area south in the direction the shooter ran. Officers found a Taurus handgun in a plastic bag hidden beneath a pile of leaves on the side of a path near Central and Western avenues. Funches was arrested coming from the direction where the gun was found. Some of the headstamps on the bullets in the magazine matched the headstamps on the three 9mm casings found at the murder scene. Armstead's girlfriend went to the shooting scene and told police that he recently was jumped by three men in front of the business, according to the complaint, which offers no further details on the incident. Funches agreed to speak to investigators. He said he found the clothes he was arrested carrying and that he was trying to throw away candy wrappers. He denied he had anything to do with the killing before eventually asking for an attorney. The Rogue's owner, who was in the front passenger seat during the shooting, said her boyfriend was driving and that they had picked Funches up at a White Castle near Rice Street. Funches had asked for a ride. She said they drove over to Arundel Street near University Avenue. Funches got out of her car and shot the man. Officers spoke to her boyfriend, who confirmed her story. 'The man was distraught that Funches would put him and his girlfriend in that situation,' the complaint says. He said Funches has pulled a gun on him in the past, so he kept Funches at a distance. In his previous case, Funches was charged with robbing a man of his cellphone, showing a handgun in his waistband, as the man left a downtown Minneapolis bar. He was sentenced to two months in the Hennepin County workhouse and three years' probation, which he completed in November 2023. Winona woman arrested in 2011 death of newborn found in Mississippi River Victimized once online, they get hit again by FBI impersonators saying lost money can be returned Suburban Chicago man sentenced to life in prison without parole for July Fourth shooting 13-year-old girl killed in crash during police pursuit in Itasca County, authorities say St. Paul alley shooter gets 17-year prison sentence for killing man on East Side When Funches was led into the courtroom by deputies for sentencing, he smiled and waved to his mother, his toddler daughter and girlfriend. He made a shape of a heart with his hands. He declined to address the court. Earlier, his attorney, assistant public defender Lauri Traub, noted how he apologized to his victim's family in his presentence investigation. Traub read from the investigation: 'The defendant stated, 'I apologize, although I know no apology can mend or make up for the damage I caused you. Our emotions, egos and pride got the best of both of us, and ended up in a situation that neither of us planned to be in.' '
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Yahoo
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.
