An Eden Prairie man climbed into the back seat of an SUV parked outside a home in St. Paul’s Payne-Phalen neighborhood last fall and told the vehicle’s driver not to move.
As the driver tried to flee, the gunman struck him in the face with a gun and forced him onto the ground outside.
Another man started rifling through the driver’s pockets, taking his wallet, ID card, necklace, bracelet and Air Jordan shoes.
Then the gunman started firing around his head and warned him to stay down.
That’s the account the driver gave investigators after he went to Regions Hospital to be treated for injuries he suffered to his face during the robbery, and the narrative outlined in the criminal complaint filed Tuesday in Ramsey County District Court charging 27-year-old Marlon Vincent Walker.
The charges follow the results of DNA tests released late last month.
Investigators tested a handgun, cash and pants — all with apparent blood on them — found in a vehicle Walker was stopped in shortly after the Sept. 24 robbery, charges say.
The victim’s DNA was reportedly found on all three.
Walker was reportedly pulled over a few hours after the robbery because his windows were illegally tinted, and officers who stopped him noted a strong smell of marijuana coming from the vehicle. He had a female passenger at the time.
Officers found a marijuana cigarette in the vehicle’s center console, as well as a Minnesota ID that matched the one taken from the robbed driver, the complaint said. They reportedly found the bloodied gun wrapped inside a shoe box in the vehicle’s trunk, and the cash in Walker’s pant’s pocket.
When questioned, Walker said the vehicle belonged to his girlfriend’s sister and that he didn’t know anything about a gun inside it. He denied being involved in a robbery or altercation earlier in the evening, charges say.
Investigators later discovered a pair of Air Jordans in the vehicle’s trunk.
The driver told police that he was at a gas station that day when a man asked him if he could borrow money. The driver declined and drove to a friend’s house in the 300 block of East Rose Street. As he was about to get out of his vehicle, the same man climbed into the back of the SUV and pulled a gun, charges say.
He later identified Walker from a lineup as the gunman.
Walker has three felonies on his criminal record, including one for simple robbery, and is ineligible to possess a firearm.
He was charged Tuesday with two counts of first-degree aggravated robbery and two counts of unlawful possession of a firearm.
No attorney was listed for him in court records.