Jury convicts man of murder for role in shooting of peacemaker during rift at St. Cloud party

Jurors have convicted a man for a shooting at a late-night party in St. Cloud nearly 1½ years ago that left one man dead and two wounded.

Deionte Jaewon Parker, 27, was found guilty Tuesday in Stearns County District Court of aiding and abetting second-degree murder and illegal gun possession in connection with the shooting on Oct. 22, 2023, near St. Cloud State University that killed Antonio C. Harris Jr., 34, of Buffalo, Minn.

Parker remains jailed ahead of sentencing, which is scheduled for April 15.

The jury acquitted Parker, of St. Cloud, of a second-degree assault count.

Co-defendant Antoine Elijah Williams, 29, of St. Cloud is charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and illegal gun possession. Williams remains jailed while resolution of his case is pending.

The state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension tested the DNA on a gun spotted by a St. Cloud resident on a roof, and the “results revealed the major male DNA profile located on the trigger of the firearm matched [Williams],” read the charges filed against him.

At the same time, one of the men who survived being wounded told police that he saw Parker shoot Harris, the charges continued.

According to the criminal complaint against Parker:

Officers responding to the report of a shooting arrived at the home in the 700 block of 6th Avenue S., where an “after-bar party” was underway and saw Harris had been shot in the head and lower torso. Emergency responders declared him dead at the scene.

Another man was shot in the leg and a third in the foot.

“It is believed that the shooting was in retaliation” for a stabbing in July 2023, the complaint read, without any specifics about that incident other than it involved one of the men who was wounded.

Harris was shot as he tried to “negotiate a truce” between Parker and his adversaries at the party, the complaint said.

Court records show Parker has been convicted six times for various illicit drug offenses, three times for weapons-related crimes and once for second-degree assault and disorderly conduct.