A second man involved in a shooting that resulted in the death of a 19-year-old man and serious injuries to a pregnant woman on St. Paul’s Payne Avenue last month admitted in court this week that he pulled the trigger.
Jawan Tommy Mitchell, 18, of St. Paul made the admission in Ramsey County District Court on Tuesday, when he pleaded guilty to both second-degree murder and second-degree attempted murder.
Taishawn T. Smith was killed outside the New Hope Market on Payne Avenue around 9 p.m. Dec. 9. A 20-year-old pregnant woman was struck and injured in both her legs.
Mitchell is one of three men who authorities say were involved in the shooting.
Miklos Dates, 23, was charged last month with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and attempted murder. He pleaded not guilty to the charges Monday.
A third man also is suspected of being involved.
Smith was at the market that night after stopping with the 20-year-old pregnant woman and her friend, legal documents say. He was driving the two when they decided to stop to pick up a pack of cigarettes.
While parked outside the convenience store, a light-colored Chevrolet Cruze pulled up in front of them, the complaint said. The vehicle was occupied by members of the pregnant woman’s boyfriend’s rival gang.
Mitchell, Dates and another man approached the car, and the pregnant woman said she thought she heard Mitchell refer to Smith by her boyfriend’s name, she later told police, leading her to believe the men had the wrong man, charges say.
“Do you know what time it is?” Mitchell asked him before pulling out a gun, according to the charges.
The pregnant woman said she yelled “I’m pregnant! I’m pregnant” before she turned away and heard gunshots, one of which shattered the driver’s side window, the complaint said.
She felt a burning sensation in her legs as she watched Smith fall toward her, charges say.
She said she saw Mitchell pull out a gun and heard him fire four or five rounds into the vehicle, according to the charges. She also told police that at least one of the other men with him that night had a gun as well.
A woman who witnessed the incident told police she saw all three men firing at the vehicle “multiple times” before running off, according to the complaint.
Police found a man at the wheel of the Cruze, and he said Dates drove him and two other men he said he didn’t know to the market that evening. When Dates and the two other men went into the store, the man said he slid into the driver’s seat, charges say.
That’s when he began to hear “pops” and saw the three men run back to the car, according to the complaint. The men yelled at him to drive when they saw a squad car arrive, but he “refused because he knew he hadn’t done anything wrong,” according to the charges. That’s when the men got out and ran.
Police found two 9-mm handguns in the back seat of the Cruze as well as a handgun in the trunk.
Smith and the woman where taken to Regions Hospital, where Smith was pronounced dead. The woman was treated for gunshot wounds to both legs.
Mitchell’s attorney, public defender Christopher Anderson, said his client admitted in court Tuesday to walking up to Smith’s vehicle and shooting at him after he saw him make a movement inside the vehicle.
Anderson said his client knew whom he was shooting at when he fired the weapon, and that his intent was to kill Smith.
His gunfire accidentally struck the pregnant woman, Anderson said.
Mitchell is expected to receive about 30 years in prison when he is sentenced in April.
In June, Smith pleaded guilty to a riot charge that stemmed from the March killing of a 19-year-old man in Inver Grove Heights following a fight between two gangs after they stepped off a party bus.