Tevin Marcel Bellaphant didn’t hesitate after climbing out of a white SUV near Conway and Mendota streets in St. Paul one evening last fall, according to charges against him in Ramsey County District Court.
He pointed a handgun toward two men in front of him and starting shooting. After ejecting one magazine, he loaded another, and then continued spraying bullets.
That’s the account provided in the criminal complaint filed against Bellaphant last September. It charges the 23-year-old with one count of attempted second-degree murder and two counts of unlawful possession of a firearm.
Bellaphant, of St. Paul, pleaded not guilty to the charges in late October and his case is proceeding toward trial.
A neighbor’s surveillance system reportedly recorded video footage of a man wearing a blueish/purple sweatshirt exiting a white SUV about 6:30 p.m. Sept. 26 in the area of Conway and Mendota streets. The man “immediately pointed a handgun” in the direction of two men standing by a nearby truck and “fired multiple times” as he walked toward them, the complaint said.
Then the man “jogged” back to his SUV and took off.
One of the men fired at ran when he heard shots, he later reportedly told police. The other said his car was struck by bullets, court documents say.
Police found 20 separate 9 mm casings at the scene
Police said they later learned from Bellaphant’s girlfriend that he had left their apartment about 6:30 p.m. that night in her white SUV. She said she didn’t know where he was going.
Officers discovered a 9 mm handgun hidden in a child’s dresser drawer at the residence. They also found a blue hooded sweatshirt, court documents say.
Officers found another gun as well as magazines and ammunition at the apartment.
When questioned, Bellaphant said he wasn’t involved in the shooting and that three different people, including himself, all drive his girlfriend’s white SUV. He also said he wasn’t in the area of the shooting Sept. 26 and that he does not own a gun.
He did acknowledge to police that he had an ongoing “beef” with one of the two men who’d been shot at during the incident.
Bellaphant’s next hearing is scheduled for Jan. 27.