Minneapolis Lake Street shooting: 2 men charged with murder

<div>A popular area for pedestrians along Lake Street in Minneapolis was the sight of a shooting that left one dead and one injured back in December.</div>
A popular area for pedestrians along Lake Street in Minneapolis was the sight of a shooting that left one dead and one injured back in December.

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - Two men are charged with second-degree murder for a shooting that left a man dead and a woman injured on Lake Street in Minneapolis back in December.

One of the suspects, Charles Danny Dobbins, 19, of Eagan, has ties to Arkansas and had an active warrant for his arrest since Aug. 10, 2023. Other open cases include possessing a fully automatic handgun and fleeing police.

The other suspect, Deon Antrell McGraw, 50, of Columbia Heights, is also charged with an unrelated attempted murder case as well as being a felon in possession of a firearm.

The complaint also references another case on February 21, 2024, where Dobbins is accused of opening fire in another incident at the intersection of East Lake Street and Bloomington Avenue South. In that shooting, just four blocks away from the December incident that left a man dead, another bystander woman was shot in the leg while she was waiting at a nearby bus stop.

RELATED: Lake Street shooting leaves 1 dead, 1 injured in Minneapolis

Minneapolis police first responded to a ShotSpotter activation near the intersection of 12th Avenue South and East Lake Street just before 12:10 a.m.

Officers then found a dead man with multiple gunshot wounds lying on the ground near a bus stop at the intersection. They later learned a woman was taken to the hospital after being shot in the leg but was in stable condition.

Police say they determined the man killed exchanged gunfire with two men who shot at him first, based on ShotSpotter data. The victim also had "sale amounts" of cocaine and methamphetamine on him when he was killed.

The complaint states officers searched an alley between 11th and 12th Avenues, just south of Lake Street, and found 31 spent .40 caliber pistol casings and two live .40 caliber rounds. They also found a winter glove and saw that the area had a clear view of the bus stop where a man and woman were shot.

Investigators then viewed surveillance footage that showed two shooters in the alley. The complaint describes one of them as a "heavyset male" who was wearing two gloves before the shooting and only one glove after the shooting.

Law enforcement said DNA testing of that glove revealed a DNA profile that matched McGraw’s. The surveillance footage also showed a vehicle parked nearby that was registered to McGraw.

Investigators then matched DNA found on the spent shell casings to Dobbins and noted the other shooter’s description matched his physical appearance. They later learned both McGraw and Dobbins were renting an apartment in Coon Rapids and sold drugs in the area of the shooting, the charges allege.

McGraw was arrested on Jan. 30 when law enforcement served a search warrant at the Coon Rapids apartment. The criminal complaint states he admitted to selling crack in the area of the fatal shooting and that he drives the vehicle that was seen in the surveillance footage.

Officers say they also found auto switches that can convert semi-automatic handguns to be fully automatic in the apartment as well as evidence that Dobbins lived there.

Dobbins was found and arrested in Minneapolis on April 30. The complaint states he admitted to being in the area with McGraw and leaving with him but denied killing anyone.

McGraw’s next court appearance in this case is set for the morning of May 15.

Dobbins’ next court appearance in this case is set for the afternoon of May 2.

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