Charges: Suspected gang member killed two bystanders in Peavey Park shootings

A suspected member of the 30z street gang was charged in the shooting deaths of two innocent bystanders in Peavey Park last month, officials announced Wednesday.

Antonio Frasion Jenkins Jr., 23, of Bloomington, is facing four counts of second-degree murder and four counts of attempted second-degree murder for the benefit of a gang, according to criminal charges.

Jenkins, who goes by the street name "Popeye," was caught in a gang feud in the Peace Garden of Peavey Park on July 25 that resulted in the deaths of two men, police said.

The criminal charges come just one day after the indictment of seven other men by a federal grand jury for shootings — some also involving bystanders — as part of a gang dispute in south Minneapolis between the 10z and 20z gangs.

According to the criminal complaint:

Police received calls of shots fired just after 10:20 p.m. near Franklin Avenue E. and Chicago Avenue S. Upon arrival, authorities found Abdirahman A. Jined, 24, and Jorge U. Zavaleta-Martinez, 20, bleeding severely from gunshot wounds. The two, who were not affiliated with the gang dispute, died within 48 hours of the shooting.

About five men believed to be members of the 10z gang had congregated in the park just before the shooting. Gunfire broke out after two rival gang members approached them, and someone yelled that the shooter was Popeye.

This is not Jenkins' first police encounter. He has been convicted of aggravated robbery, a felony for which he served 17 months in prison, and terroristic threats, a misdemeanor.

The latter stems from a homemade tattoo on his left bicep, which depicted a person with a handgun with the barrel partly in the mouth of a pig dressed as a police officer. It included the misspelled name and badge number of a Minneapolis officer and an expletive directed at police.

The officer, a 22-year police veteran and a member of the gang investigation team at the time, considered the image a direct threat against his life. Jenkins was charged with the misdemeanor in 2013 and said he wished to remove the image.

Jenkins is scheduled to make his first court appearance on the murder charges Thursday afternoon, and the Hennepin County attorney's office is asking for bail of $2.5 million.

Liz Sawyer • 612-673-4648