What started as an attempted robbery during a marijuana deal in a St. Paul neighborhood last week ended with a 19-year-old dying in the street, authorities say.
Wilbert E’lee Harris-McCalister sat in the back seat of an Oldsmobile Cutlass parked near the intersection of Avon Street and Carroll Avenue about 9 a.m. on Friday when he was struck by bullets, according to charges filed in the young man’s death Monday in Ramsey County District Court.
He arrived at the location with two acquaintances after one of them reportedly made arrangements to buy marijuana from someone he observed smoking marijuana at the Tobasi Stop on Selby Avenue shortly before, legal documents say.
The front seat passenger of the car McCalister was riding in — Kalon Arden Harvey-Brown — exited the Oldsmobile and got into the backseat of the other man’s vehicle to buy the marijuana, charges say.
While the seller compiled the drugs in the front seat, Harvey-Brown allegedly took out a gun, pointed it at his head, and told the seller to hand over the narcotics, legal documents say.
Then Harvey-Brown grabbed the small baggie of marijuana from the seller, along with his cell phone, wallet and keys, as his other acquaintance — the suspected driver of the Oldsmobile — walked over to the vehicle, pointed another gun at the seller’s head and ordered him to pop his trunk, according to a criminal complaint filed Monday against Harvey-Brown.
Reportedly unable to open his trunk, the seller told Harvey-Brown and the other gunman, who is a juvenile, he would need to do it manually. The seller later told police he heard the two discuss shooting him as he made his way to the back of his car, authorities say.
At that point, the seller told police he took out his own .22 caliber semi-automatic and fired a shot at Harvey-Brown, charges say.
Harvey-Brown’s acquaintance fired back as the seller made his way to the back of the Oldsmobile to seek cover, according to his account to police, legal documents say.
That’s when the young man spotted Harris-McCalister in the backseat of the vehicle “looking fidgety” as he reached for something, he later told officers, charges say.
Fearing that Harris-McCalister was also armed, the seller said he fired at Harris-McCalister from close-range, the complaint said.
When he saw the 19-year-old duck and cover his head with his arms, he stopped shooting and ran home, he allegedly told police.
Harris-McCalister got out of the car and collapsed on the street and died, charges say.
Police found him with two gunshot wounds to his back.
Harvey-Brown was found “visibly distraught” by officers and medics at the scene. While he at first said his friends were shot at suddenly by a guy they casually talked to about rapping, he later admitted that they met the man to conduct a marijuana deal.
Harvey-Brown said he was sitting in the man’s backseat when one of Harvey-Brown’s acquaintances appeared at the vehicle window with a gun, the complaint said.
He told police he didn’t know his acquaintance planned to rob the seller, and said the seller responded by pulling out his own gun and shooting, charges say.
Harvey-Brown denied having a gun himself, and said he started running as the gunfire erupted.
When he returned to the scene, he said he saw Harris-McCalister lying face-down in the street.
As he tried to carry him back to the vehicle they arrived in, he said their other acquaintance drove away in it.
Police recovered the seller’s ID, keys, cell phone and wallet at the scene. They also found .40 and .22 caliber bullet casings, and a handgun in a grassy area nearby. A woman who lived about a block from the scene told officers she found a sandwich bag of suspected marijuana inside her recycling bin in front of her house, charge say.
Police said they also located an Oldsmobile nearby with its rear-window shot out and blood inside the car.
Harris-McCalister’s mom said her son had recently started hanging out with the driver of the Oldsmobile, and said she’s made dinner for the two of them the previous evening.
Neither he, nor the reported shooter who struck her son, were named in the complaint.
The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office confirmed that they are reviewing charges against the juvenile driver.
Harvey-Brown was charged in another armed robbery this past May. In that incident, he and an acquaintance robbed someone they made on Facebook at gunpoint during another supposed marijuana deal.
That case is pending.
His criminal history includes other felony convictions for unlawful possession of a firearm and simply robbery.
He faces charges of first-degree aggravated robbery and two counts of possession of a firearm by an ineligible in Harris-McCalister’s death.
Harris-McCalister’s mom declined to comment Monday.
The investigation in to what happened is ongoing.
No attorney was listed for Harvey-Brown in court records.
Mara H. Gottfried contributed to this report.