An argument over a gun between two 17-year-olds in a stolen automobile led to St. Paul with one being killed and the opposite charged on Monday with homicide.
Elijah Watson, of St. Paul, died final Monday afternoon within the North Finish.
The Ramsey County lawyer’s workplace charged Javeon Norbor-Mayon Kohene, of South St. Paul, with second-degree intentional homicide, not premeditated, and first-degree aggravated theft for an armed carjacking of a lady that adopted.
Watson’s murder had ripple results on individuals within the space.
After Watson was shot within the 500 block of Jessamine Avenue, he exited the automobile and banged on the door of a residence earlier than collapsing.
A girl who known as 911 — who police mentioned was visibly shaken, crying and screaming — advised them her grandchildren have been at her house for distance studying when she heard the banging on her door. She regarded exterior and noticed a male lined in blood.
The kids additionally have been crying and one reported he “had already regarded exterior,” based on the juvenile petition filed in Ramsey County District Court docket in opposition to Kohene.
Watson’s grandmother, Bernice Parks, mentioned Elijah was “a cheerful, go-lucky child. All the time smiled. All the time in search of acceptance. He wished to be all people’s pal.”
One in all Parks’ sons, Darius Maxwell, was additionally killed in St. Paul when he was 17-years-old. In 2010, Maxwell was stabbed by his girlfriend’s former boyfriend, whom she had a protecting order in opposition to, however who broke into the residence.
“It’s simply so unhappy as a result of these younger kids are doing the issues that they’re doing and so they don’t perceive the results of it,” Parks mentioned. “So in the identical token, when my son acquired killed, I mentioned, ‘You understand, there’s two lives misplaced now, as a result of now one goes to be spending his life in jail.’”
FROM ONE STOLEN VEHICLE TO ANOTHER
Police discovered a photograph on Watson’s cellphone, which was taken hour earlier than he was shot. It confirmed Watson in a stolen BMW sport-utility automobile with three different individuals, recognized as Kohene, a 15- and a 16-year-old. Kohene later advised police the BMW was working out of gasoline, so that they traded it for a stolen Pontiac G6.
Surveillance video confirmed the Pontiac slowed down on Jessamine Avenue at 1:50 p.m. Monday, the driving force and rear doorways opened, and Watson stumbled out earlier than the automobile sped away.
Quickly after, police obtained a 911 name a couple of male wiping down a automobile on Sherburne Avenue and officers decided it was the Pontiac G6. Somebody in one other automobile, a stolen Acura, picked up the male.
Then, final Tuesday afternoon, a 34-year-old girl reported she was carjacked after leaving work on Colorado Avenue off Robert Avenue on St. Paul’s West Aspect.
A male requested the girl for assist jumpstarting a automobile and pointed to the Acura. She lifted the hood of her automobile to assist and a male put a gun to her again and advised her, “Don’t transfer,” the petition mentioned. He stole her purse and her GMC Acadia.
Police discovered the Acadia parked at Kohene’s house later within the day and, when executing a search warrant, found a gun within the teen’s bed room, based on the petition. The gun was confirmed to be the weapon utilized in Watson’s taking pictures, the petition mentioned.
Kohene advised police he not stolen the Acadia. He mentioned he’d been in 5 stolen autos between Monday and Wednesday, however hadn’t stolen them, based on the petition. He additionally had a telephone that was stolen throughout an auto theft in Minneapolis final Monday, although he mentioned he didn’t steal it.
ARGUMENT OR ACCIDENTAL SHOOTING?
Police discovered the 16-year-old, who’d been within the automobile through the taking pictures, in a stolen Jeep on Tuesday and arrested him.
He mentioned Watson had been driving and handed a gun to Kohene, who responded, “That is my gun” and wouldn’t return the weapon to Watson, based on the petition.
Watson reached to seize the gun and Kohene “let off a shot and hit the sufferer within the face,” the petition mentioned. He mentioned Watson panicked and exited the automobile.
The teenager mentioned he didn’t assume Kohene deliberately tried to kill Watson, who hadn’t been touching the gun, however had pulled the set off.
When police arrested Kohene late Wednesday, he mentioned he hadn’t been arguing with Watson. Kohene mentioned he’d been taking part in with the gun in his lap when it went off and Watson was shot.
“The investigators confronted Kohene and advised him the bodily proof contradicted this assertion due to the trajectory of the bullet,” the petition mentioned. “… Kohene acknowledged if the sufferer wished the gun again, he would have simply given it to him.”
Kohene advised police he went to a vigil for Watson, however didn’t inform anybody there he had shot him.
“The investigators accused Kohene of not being remorseful since he posted an image of himself on Fb after the homicide with the gun that they had been preventing over,” the petition mentioned. “Kohene once more acknowledged they weren’t arguing over the gun.”
However the 15-year-old who’d been within the automobile advised Watson’s household that he suggested Watson to not inform Kohene had a gun as a result of he fearful Kohene would attempt to take it, primarily based on him taking issues from mates prior to now, based on the petition.
He mentioned Kohene laughed about taking pictures Watson “and confirmed no regret,” the petition mentioned.
The Ramsey County lawyer’s workplace will search to certify Kohene to face trial as an grownup. An lawyer for Kohene wasn’t listed within the courtroom report.
