Rochester man pleads guilty in June shooting

Emily Cutts, Post-Bulletin, Rochester, Minn.
·1 min read

Dec. 8—A Rochester man charged in a June 2021 shooting that injured a 27-year-old man at a birthday celebration pleaded guilty to an assault charge in connection to the incident.

Langston Miles Mercedes, 24, pleaded guilty on Monday in Olmsted County District Court to second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon. Mercedes also was charged with possession of ammunition/any firearm-conviction or adjudicated delinquent for a crime of violence.

Rochester police were called about 10 p.m. Monday, June 14, 2021, to The Gates of Rochester, 2015 41st St. NW, for a report of a shooting. A 27-year-old man suffered a single gunshot wound to a leg, according to Rochester Police Capt. Casey Moilanen.

Mercedes was arrested shortly after the incident on the 41st Street bridge crossing U.S. Highway 52. A gun was not found on him, but police did find a gun in a grassy area not far away that matched the description of the gun the suspect used, Moilanen said a day after the incident.

The guilty plea also includes a resolution to a second case in which Mercedes is charged with fleeing a peace officer in a motor vehicle, fleeing a peace officer by means other than a motor vehicle, driving without a valid driver's license, possession of drugs and reckless driving.

Mercedes pleaded guilty to fleeing a peace officer in a motor vehicle — a felony.

Court documents indicate that Mercedes could be sentenced to 45 months in state prison on the assault charge with a concurrent 15-month sentence on the fleeing charge.

Mercedes is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Joseph Chase on Jan. 24, 2022.