A 16-year-old charged in connection with a St. Paul shootout that injured two about a block from Allianze Field this past October was convicted of unlawful possession of a firearm and ordered to spend several months in a group home and shelter program.
As a juvenile, Eric Kapreese Richards was adjudicated guilty by Ramsey County District Judge Lezlie Ott Marek in late January. He will be held in a juvenile detention center until he can start the 6-to-12 month intensive program at Jordan House.
The facility provides a number of services to the roughly six young men who live there at a given time, including screenings and assessments, cognitive behavioral therapy, transition and like-skills development, as well as access to resources to treat chemical dependency and other issues, according to its web site.
Two second-degree assault charges in the case were dismissed.
Two people suffered gunshot wounds and other bystanders were in harm’s way during the shooting, authorities say.
Among them was a woman’s toddler, who was narrowly missed by a bullet that struck her vehicle, legal documents say.
Officers who responded to the scene around 7:30 p.m. found Richards and another male suffering from gunshot wounds in a parking lot behind a laundromat at Pascal Street and University Avenue, authorities say.
Richards had what appeared to be a gunshot wound to his back. The other individual suffered wounds to his arm and head. Both were taken to the hospital.
Surveillance video captured by a nearby business reportedly shows Richards and another person riding by on bicycles when another male standing behind a vehicle reportedly drew a gun and started shooting repeatedly at them before taking off toward University Avenue, court documents say.
The vehicle he was standing by also took off.
That’s when Richards got off his bike and started firing his own gun, court documents say.
He fired about six times before an unknown person came into the camera’s view, at which point Richards fired two more times as that individual ran away, authorities say.
Richards then ditched his bike, threw something over the fence and took off, losing one of his shoes as he ran, the petition said.
Police found Richards’ shoe, a gun and multiple bullet casings at the scene.
The incident was reportedly gang-related, and police eventually arrested and charged who they say was the initial shooter in the case, Kier Shawn Johnson, also 16.
Johnson was charged with one count of second-degree assault in the case, according to a juvenile petition.
Johnson admitted to police that he fired first, saying Richards was one of his “opps,” meaning a member of a rival group, the petition said.
Johnson added he didn’t know whether Richards was armed at the time but said he decided to fire when he saw that both Richards and the person he was biking with were wearing face masks, the petition said.
”I know what’s going on. Too many people have been dying out there,” Johnson said, according to the petition. “I know everybody has guns. I’m not getting shot. I just got shot like three weeks ago. I’m not getting shot again; that’s why I shot him.”
Johnson pleaded guilty in December and subsequently received a 36-month stayed adult sentence and was placed on juvenile probation for an indeterminate length of time.
He also was ordered to attend a 9-to-12 month program at a juvenile correctional facility in Red Wing, Minn.