Months of investigative work by the Minneapolis Police Department and Hennepin County Attorney’s Office in the wake of a shooting in broad daylight that left one dead and three injured in south Minneapolis has resulted in a guilty plea for murder.
45-year sentence for guilty plea from brazen Minneapolis shooting that killed one, injured three
Antonio Deshawn Timberlake is one of four people charged in the shooting that killed Pierre Romel Miller. He pleaded guilty this week to second-degree murder.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
December 13, 2024 at 4:59PM
On Thursday, Antonio Deshawn Timberlake, 27, pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree murder and three counts of second-degree assault. Four people age 20 to 29 have been charged in connection with the shooting. Timberlake, of Minneapolis, is the first to admit any wrongdoing. He will be sentenced to 45 years in prison. With good behavior, he could be out in 30 years.
The shooting occurred in the middle of the afternoon on Feb. 27 near the intersection of Chicago and Elliot avenues, killing Pierre Romel Miller, 34, of Brooklyn Park. A previous shooting that wounded eight took place near the same intersection in August 2023.
Miller’s grandmother, Mae Ellen, told the Star Tribune on the day her grandson was murdered that he was “a bighearted person.”
“He had a job, went to college and got a certificate,” Ellen said, explaining that Miller made a good living working as a welder. She said the family had reason to believe that a group of men followed Miller from downtown Minneapolis and targeted him over some unknown dispute. He was shot in the leg and head, she said.
According to court documents:
Police arrived at the site of the shooting at 1:25 p.m., they found more than 20 shell casings and Miller dead on the scene. Investigators and county prosecutors have built a widening investigation in connection with the crime ever since.
Surveillance video showed a gray KIA pull up to the market before driving around the block. The car parked in an alley and three men wearing hooded sweatshirts and masks got out, drew guns and began shooting. Afterward they ran back to the car and fled the scene.
Police identified the car as belonging to Elizabeth A. Dominguez, 29, of Brooklyn Park. They tracked her car and cellphone and, one week after the shooting, Dominguez was arrested driving west on Interstate 94 near St. Cloud. The KIA had new license plates and when Dominguez was pulled over she was attempting to delete text messages off her phone.
Her phone was filled with phone calls and text messages to Timberlake, her boyfriend, including on the day of the shooting. The day after the shooting, Timberlake texted Dominguez, “Avis and budget roseville,” and “Say Bobby sent you for a rental.”
Dominguez also had internet searches on her phone for “stolen plates dmv,” “replacement license plate MN,” and “southside minneapolis shooting.” She was charged with felony aiding an offender after the fact and is currently out on $100,000 bail. Her next court date is Feb. 6, 2025.
Two weeks after the shooting, Victor M. Collins, 23, of Anoka, was arrested after fleeing police who were given a tip that he was armed and selling drugs. A search of Collins and his backpack found a new street drug called “Tusi,” a mixture of fentanyl, ketamine, cocaine, MDA, MDMA, and tramadol. Police also found a pistol.
A ballistic test on the gun matched the shell casings at the shooting near Minneapolis Market.
Police used location data on Collins’ cellphone to place him at the scene of the shooting. It also showed that his cell phone and Timberlake’s cell phone were together before, after and during the shooting. Collins stands charged with one count of second-degree murder, three counts of attempted second-degree murder and one count of illegal possession of a firearm. He is being held on $1 million bail and his next court date is Feb. 18.
In October, Albert J. Lucas, 21, of St. Paul, was charged with one count of second-degree murder and three counts of attempted second-degree murder. He was arrested in Minneapolis just days after he was ordered to stand trial as an adult for a separate murder charge from 2021. Lucas had previously been charged as a juvenile in that case. When he was arrested, police found a Glock 9 mm pistol. A ballistic test on the gun matched the shell casings at the shooting near Minneapolis Market.
DNA from the steering wheel inside the KIA also matched Lucas. His cellphone data showed him with Timberlake and Collins before and after the shooting. There was no cell data transmitted from his phone at the time of the shooting, indicating it might have been turned off. Lucas’ bail was set at $2 million. He is currently in federal custody.
Sentencing for Timberlake on his guilty plea is scheduled for Feb. 7.
LaTrisha Vetaw says the criticism is ‘unfounded and unserious.’ She used the phrase in defense of the police department’s mounted patrol, which was being defunded.
