17-year-old charged with 5 felonies in teen's fatal shooting in Fridley

A 15-year-old boy from Blaine is dead and another teenager has been charged with five felonies, including two counts of second-degree murder.

The Anoka County Attorney's Office is seeking to have Isaiah Harold-Stephaun Holmes, 17, certified to stand trial as an adult in connection with the death of Anthony J. Rouse of Blaine.

Holmes is also charged with one count each of first-degree assault, second-degree assault and first-degree attempted aggravated robbery. He remained in custody Wednesday afternoon and is due to make his first court appearance Monday, the County Attorney's Office said.

Rouse was a passenger in a van with two others who drove to the area of the 6000 block of Main Street in Fridley on Sunday evening to buy marijuana, charging documents said.

As the passengers in the van spoke to a man arranging the sale, Holmes appeared at the van's door with a gun to initiate a robbery and told the van driver "not to drive off or yell." The driver slammed on the accelerator and Holmes fired several times, the complaint said.

The driver drove Rouse to Mercy Hospital-Unity Campus in Fridley. Rouse was shot in the neck and upper shoulder and suffered massive bleeding. He also suffered cardiac arrest, the charges said.

Rouse was transferred to Hennepin County Medical Center for further treatment but died about 7:30 p.m. Sunday.

"He sustained catastrophic injury to his brain due to lack of oxygen and blood flow," the charges said.

Witnesses who live in the area of the shooting told police they saw two males run from the scene. A short time later, one of the males, identified as Holmes, returned to the area riding a bicycle with a cellphone to his ear and then to a residence on the 6100 block of Trinity Drive. Police knew Holmes lived at the address on Trinity, the charges said.

Police interviewed Holmes, who admitted he was aware of the shooting but said he was at his cousin's house when it happened. Holmes told investigators he rode his bike home to check on family members after he heard the shots, the complaint said.

The man arranging the sale told police that Holmes shot Rouse and had "used both hands to aim the gun at close range," firing two shots into the van and three more as the van drove away, the complaint said.

Holmes denied his presence, but video captured by a state trooper who passed the scene moments before the shooting and from nearby buildings corroborate the account from the man arranging the sale, the charges said. Video also shows Holmes raising a gun and shooting as the van drove away.

Tim Harlow • 612-673-7768