Charges: Gunman blamed for 3 shootings in a week outside Minneapolis store, killing 1

Three shooting incidents last month involving the same gunman south of downtown Minneapolis culminated in a man being fatally shot in the back while fleeing, according to charges filed Thursday.

Darius D. Sharp, 24, of Minneapolis was charged in Hennepin County District Court with second-degree murder and two counts of first-degree attempted premeditated murder in connection with shootings Sept. 16 and 17 that wounded two men and gunfire the following week that killed 24-year-old Brenell Michael Green of St. Paul.

Sharp remains jailed in lieu of $2 million bail. He is due on court Friday. Court records do not list an attorney for him.

According to the criminal complaint:

Officers were sent about 9:30 a.m. on Sept. 22 to the area of Nicollet Avenue and 19th Street, where they saw Green on the ground and shot in the chest. He died at the scene. A witness reported hearing five to seven gunshots and seeing someone running away.

Police reviewed surveillance video from in front of Net Supermarket, and it showed Sharp wearing a mask that revealed only his eyes as he walked up in front of the store, as well as a man soon running away.

Sharp "set up his aim with both hands and fired several times" at Green as he fled, the complaint read.

A store employee said the shooter in the video looked like the man who was beaten in the Market on Sept. 16 and involved in another shooting later that day.

Store video backed up the employee's account, showing Sharp being attacked by a larger man — not Green — about 2:35 p.m. inside the market. Sharp fled, returned two hours later and while outside the store fired 20 rounds at the man who attacked him and others in a group in front of the store. No one was wounded by the gunfire.

Early the next afternoon, another shooting occurred "with the exact same conduct," the charges continued. Sharp this time fired nine times from a pistol at a group outside the store. He hit one person in the leg.

Police tracked down Sharp on Monday, and a search of his home turned up clothing that matched what he was seen wearing in the store video.