Three suspected shooters charged in last month's killing of man on St. Paul's West Side

Mar. 21—Three suspected shooters have been charged in the killing of a 26-year-old man inside a West Side St. Paul home last month. The man's funeral three weeks later was the scene of more gunfire that claimed another man's life and left three more injured.

Ramsey County prosecutors filed aiding and abetting second-degree intentional murder charges Friday against Montez Dalray Davis, 23, of Brooklyn Park, Kendall Dvontae Pruitt, 25, of Minneapolis, and Delaquay Levius Williams, 27, of St. Paul, for the Feb. 1 killing of Casanova Carter.

Earlier this month, Williams was arrested and charged with second-degree murder (with intent-not premediated) for the killing of Regis A. Jones, who was found dead March 4 in an alley in St. Paul's Frogtown neighborhood. At the time, Williams was wanted for absconding from his Nov. 10 supervised release from Minnesota Correctional Facility-St. Cloud relating to a 2018 conviction for felony second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon.

Davis and Pruitt were arrested on murder warrants Friday.

All three remained jailed Monday in lieu of $2 million bail.

The criminal complaint states Carter and Pruitt had been "beefing" after Carter called him a "snitch" in a social media post.

Meanwhile, St. Paul police said Monday the investigation into the Feb. 21 killing of 28-year-old Agustin Martinez of Crystal outside Simple Traditions by Bradshaw funeral home at 488 Humboldt Ave. remains under investigation. Martinez and the three other men shot were there to attend Carter's funeral.

CRIMINAL COMPLAINT

According to the criminal complaint, shortly after 10 p.m. Carter was sitting in a chair playing a video game in front of a window of a home in the 700 block of Winslow Avenue when a flurry of bullets fired from outside struck him in the chest, back, face and neck.

Investigators recovered 18 spent casings outside the home that came from four guns.

Video surveillance from multiple places shows a Nissan Altima with no license plates drive past the home two minutes before the shooting and turn down a neighboring street, according to the charges. Shortly thereafter, four people walked into the yard.

Three of the four people went to the north side of the home, where Carter was seated in a bedroom playing a video game, according to the charges. The fourth person went to the driveway near the front door of the residence.

Multiple shots then are heard followed by a pause, then an additional volley of gunshots. The person standing near the front of the home shot at the front of the house. After the shooting, all four suspects ran back toward the area of the Nissan Altima.

EARLIER SHOOTING

A ballistics analysis of a 9mm Luger handgun that investigators recovered at the scene was linked to a shooting that happened about four hours earlier in the parking lot of a store on Fourth Street East in St. Paul.

Surveillance video from the store and surrounding area shows a Nissan Altima that appears to be similar to the suspect's vehicle from the homicide pull up. The rear passenger door opens, an arm is extended and fires in the direction of a vehicle in the parking lot.

Surveillance video from a Holiday gas station on Rice Street around 7:15 p.m. shows the same Nissan Altima drive‐up and a passenger enter the store and pay for gas. Police identified him as Pruitt and the driver of the car as Davis, who was wearing a distinctive lion's head pendant, according to the complaint.

DNA swabs from the siding of the house under the window of the bedroom where Carter was shot were submitted to Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and came back as a partial profile match to Williams, according to the complaint.

On Feb. 12, Davis exchanged gunfire with someone and was shot after an altercation at a Minneapolis gas station. Davis fled the scene in a Nissan Altima, which had license plates and registered to his girlfriend. Davis was treated for gunshot wounds to the shoulder and knee at North Memorial Hospital in Robbinsdale. There, Minneapolis police recovered a lion's head pendant necklace from him.

Davis' phone put him in the area of the store at the time of the shooting and at the house where Carter was killed. Phones Pruitt and Williams were with Davis at various times throughout the night, according to charges.

PAST CONVICTIONS

Davis has been convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm three times since 2016. This past December he was charged with two counts each of felony first-degree aggravated robbery and felony first-degree burglary in Ramsey County and was released from jail after posting a $250,000 bond.

Pruitt in January was sentenced to three years of supervised release for escaping from federal custody relating to a 2017 conviction for conspiracy to commit being a felon of possession of a firearm. He also was convicted in Ramsey County of felony crime committed for benefit of a gang in 2015.

Williams in 2012 twice was convicted of felony aiding and abetting first-degree aggravated robbery and in 2018 for possession of a firearm by a felon.

Mara Gottfried contributed to this report.