18-year-old sentenced to 20 years for killing man linked to ghost gun operation

An 18-year-old man was sentenced to 20 years in prison this week in Ramsey County district court after pleading guilty to killing a man police believe was making "ghost guns" in North St. Paul.

Abo Eshun Essilfie of St. Paul was 17 when he pleaded guilty in July to one count of second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Anthony Robert Rojas-Dabbs, 24.

Prosecutors had requested Essilfie be given a sentence of a little more than 27 years; the defense had asked for close to 14 years.

Rojas-Dabbs was killed June 19 at his apartment in North St. Paul.

According to the criminal complaint, police responded shortly after 6 p.m. to the 2100 block of McKnight Road and found Rojas-Dabbs with a gunshot wound to the head.

They also found two open and empty gun safes, a 3-D printer, boxes of ammunition and rifle magazines. It appeared Rojas-Dabbs was using the printer to make gun parts, the complaint says.

Co-defendant Octavion Rayshawn Jones, 19, told police that Essilfie wanted to trade his 9-millimeter or .40-caliber handgun to Rojas-Dabbs for ghost guns, a term commonly used for untraceable weapons that have no serial numbers.

He said people at the apartment were passing around guns when he went into the bathroom and heard a loud bang.

Upon leaving the bathroom, Jones said, Essilfie "gave him a look and told him to grab a bag full of guns," according to the charges.

Jones, who was charged with second-degree murder for alleged aiding and abetting murder, was found incompetent to stand trial for a sixth time on Aug. 18, said Dennis Gerhardstein, spokesman for the Ramsey County Attorney's Office. His next court date is set for next March

Cara Gilbert, Essilfie's attorney from the Ramsey County Public Defender's Office, said Judge JaPaul Harris "did a really nice job of balancing everything" with the sentencing.

"Do I want to see my kids get less time? Of course, I do," Gilbert said. "But homicides are always tragic."