A felon barred from having a gun was charged with shooting and wounding two people outside a popular Hennepin Avenue club around closing time over the weekend.
Charges: Felon shot into crowd, wounded 2 people outside Hennepin Av. club
A drug conviction is one of many offenses the defendant has on his criminal record.
August 23, 2017 at 8:20PM
Travion J. Jones, 28, of Roseville, was charged Tuesday in Hennepin County District Court with three counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon and being a felon in possession of a firearm. Jones remains jailed ahead of his first court appearance Wednesday afternoon.
After filing the charges, the county attorney's office announced it will seek a particularly lengthy sentence, if convicted, on the grounds that Jones' actions "represented a greater than normal danger to the safety of others and the offense was committed in a particularly serious way.
County Attorney Mike Freeman said, "If we cannot stop this senseless gunfire, we will at least use all of the tools available to us to try to send these shooters away for longer periods of time."
According to the criminal complaint:
About 2 a.m. Sunday, Jones fired shots in the parking next to the Gay 90s club on Hennepin Avenue near 4th Avenue. A security guard and police chased after Jones and quickly arrested him. They also found a gun that he dropped before his capture.
The incident began to escalate when Jones shoved a man in the parking lot and the security guard ordered him to leave.
Eventually, the guard discharged pepper spray at Jones, who responded by pulling out a gun and shooting at the guard, then into a crowd of people.
A 34-year-old woman was shot in the foot, the 41-year-old man shoved by Jones was shot in the wrist and the scrotum, and the security guard had a bullet go through his shirt near his left armpit.
Jones' criminal history in Minnesota began as a minor with a felony conviction for possessing and intending to sell an illicit drug. As an adult, he also has been convicted three times as an adult for drug possession and also for fleeing police and disorderly conduct.
Through the end of July, 317 people were shot in Minneapolis, compared with 239 during the same period last year.
Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482
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