A St. Paul man was charged with three counts of attempted murder Friday after wounding three people — one of them critically, in a shooting that broke out in a Maplewood parking lot Wednesday evening.
The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office filed the charges against Brendon Joseph Garza, 23. In addition to attempted murder, Garza was charged with three counts of assault.
He was arrested shortly after the shooting took place about 5 p.m. in the 400 block of South McKnight Road.
A 25-year-old man from St. Paul, a 12-year-old boy from Maplewood and a 15-year-old boy were injured, according to police.
The 12-year-old sustained a collapsed lung in the shooting and remains hospitalized. The 15-year-old is also still in the hospital and is experiencing numbness to his right arm that could be permanent, according to the criminal complaint.
Relatives told KSTP-TV that one of the boy’s is the wounded man’s nephew.
Police could not confirm the victims’ relationships to each other.
The adult male was shot multiple times and remains in critical condition.
“Something like this in Maplewood is pretty rare,” Maplewood Police Chief Scott Nadeau told KSTP shortly after the shooting. “I’ve been the police chief here for two years, we’ve not had an incident like this.”
One of the boys told police that the shooting took place as they were getting ready to go to a cousin’s football game. He said they were in the parking lot when a Camaro pulled up and Garza and another man got out.
His reported uncle grabbed his handgun, walked toward the men and said “What are you all doing. Watch out,” according to the boy’s account.
One of the men reportedly asked his uncle if he’d said something about his deceased brother. The boy said his uncle told him he didn’t know anything about it and started walking back toward their car. That’s when Garza started firing, according to the boy, the complaint said.
The incident was captured on a surveillance camera. It shows the 25-year-old walking back to his car with his arms “perpendicular to the ground” when Garza started firing, the complaint said.
When police arrested Garza shortly thereafter, he said his actions were in self-defense.
Authorities suspect the shooting was motivated by a dispute on social media that involved negative remarks made about Garza’s associates deceased brothers, the complaint said. The associate was one of the men with Garza, authorities say.
No attorney was listed for Garza in court records, and he has no prior criminal record in the state.
He made his first court appearance Friday afternoon. A judge set his bail at $500,000 during the hearing.
His next hearing is scheduled for Aug. 26.