Two charged with shooting, killing man in Minneapolis, remain at large

Two men were charged Friday with murdering a 37-year-old Minneapolis man who was found shot to death last month in the city's Near North neighborhood.

Lavester Tramaine Breham, 34, and Dandre Franklin, 32, remain at large. Both were charged through warrants with second-degree murder. The victim was Mikiyel D. Patton, a 37-year-old Minneapolis man who was facing charges prior to his death for allegedly stealing five French bulldog puppies from a home south of the Twin Cities.

According to the criminal complaint, Minneapolis police responded just after 6:30 p.m. to the area of 915 N. Newton Av., and found Patton in the front seat of a Honda CR-V with five gunshot wounds to the head and neck. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Franklin is a Crystal resident, while Breham is from Sauk Village, Ill.

Surveillance footage showed the CR-V park at the address before muzzle flashes are seen coming from inside the vehicle, the charges allege. A suspect exits the driver's seat door as another suspect runs towards the vehicle, according to charges. That second suspect opens the front passenger door, fires a single gunshot at Patton before the two suspects flee on foot into an alleyway, the charges say. Investigators believe the suspects got into another vehicle to leave the area.

Police found one .40-caliber bullet casing just outside the passenger side of the CR-V, and three spent 10mm shells inside the vehicle.

Breham and Franklin were also suspected in a separate investigation by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and had a surveillance camera outside a Brooklyn Park house they stayed at, the complaint says. About 50 minutes before the murder, video shows Breham and Franklin taking items out of the CR-V, spraying it with a cleaning product and wiping it down with paper towels while wearing gloves, the complaint alleges.

Attorney information was not available on Breham and Franklin's online case page.

The charges say Breham's cell phone was then tracked to the area of Minneapolis that Patton lived in before later arriving at the scene of the murder.

Breham and Franklin were arrested Dec. 20, the day after the murder, and lodged at Hennepin Dec. 20 on probable cause for a controlled substance charge, and for an unspecified federal charge. Both were released 7 days later.

Franklin was recently linked to a Minneapolis shooting death that had gone unsolved for nearly two years, according to newly filed federal charges.

The Hennepin County Attorney's Office requested a warrant for their arrests "due to the nature of this offense and the threat to the public." The charges included no mention of a connection with the dogs that were stolen.