Brooklyn Park man charged with second random killing in Minneapolis this year

A Brooklyn Park man is now charged in two cases of second-degree murder after police say he randomly shot and killed two men in Minneapolis in April.

Kevin Jason Harris, 28, was already being held in Hennepin County jail for allegedly killing a person in a case of mistaken identity at a gas station in northeast Minneapolis on April 26. On Friday, Harris was charged with murder in a separate case after he allegedly shot and killed a 19-year-old for revving his Jeep engine too loudly in north Minneapolis on April 5.

According to court documents:

Police patrolling in north Minneapolis on April 5 were flagged down by the occupants of a Jeep in the 1700 block of Glenwood Avenue who said another passenger was shot in the car. Life-saving measures were performed but Mohamed Ahmed Ade, 19, of Minneapolis died at the scene. The other passengers said they had no idea why their car had been shot at, but speculated the Jeep’s engine had roared loudly right before the gunshots started.

Officers used multiple surveillance videos to track Harris and multiple suspects tied to a house near the shooting where drug activity had been taking place. They interviewed a witness that lived at the house who admitted he was present during the shooting and that it was due to the Jeep revving its engine.

The suspects believed the Jeep was driven by rival gang members. “The car was going back and forth. They heard the ‘Vroo Vroo’ and that was that,” the witness said.

Another suspect in the case, Darryl Lekeith Robinson Jr., admitted in a statement to police that he was present and Harris had shot at the Jeep and that afterward Harris “didn’t care, like, it didn’t matter. Like, it’s just another day.”

Harris was arrested on July 23 in Chicago for a different murder charge and told investigators he hasn’t been in Minneapolis for 10 years and that he lived in Las Vegas with his mom. Police say electronic records, including a $30 CashApp transaction from Harris to a witness and a photo of Harris standing outside a Minneapolis home with a gun in his pants, show he was in Minneapolis in early April.

The other homicide Harris is accused of committing took place at a BP gas station in northeast Minneapolis when 14-year-old Fa’him Laron Miller of St. Paul was killed by a single gunshot wound to the torso. Surveillance video showed Miller had no interaction with Harris and had been at the gas pump in the 2600 block of University Avenue for 15 seconds when Harris shot him from the passenger door of another car.

Robinson admitted to police he was the driver of the car in that shooting as well, and that Harris shot Miller and it was a case of mistaken identity because they believed the occupants of the car Miller was in were rival gang members. Robinson was charged with felony aiding an offender/accomplice after the fact for his role in the shooting.

Harris is due to appear in court Monday.