Man acquitted in 2022 St. Paul triple homicide

A Ramsey County judge found a Minneapolis man not guilty of three killings in St. Paul in 2022.

The three victims — Angelica Gonzales, 33; Cory Freeman, 42; and Maisha Spaulding, 44 — were shot dead by a masked assailant in a home in St. Paul's Payne-Phalen neighborhood in September 2022.

Antonio Wright was arrested in Chicago and charged with three counts of second-degree murder and three counts of attempted second-degree murder for allegedly wounding three others. On Friday, Ramsey County District Judge Kelly Olmstead found Wright not guilty on all six counts.

Wright was implicated in the killings by a man who survived a gunshot wound to the head during the shooting. The witness said he recognized Wright despite the shooter's mask, and said the tan gun used in the shootings was similar to a gun he thought Wright owned.

The witness identified Wright as the shooter in a photo lineup and said the shooter was bald, but during the trial the witness testified that Wright was not the shooter, and that the shooter had dreadlocks.

Other witnesses disagreed with that witness, saying the shooter had dreadlocks, while Wright did not. Wright's aunt testified that he was with her in Chicago at the time of the shootings.

Wright was seen on surveillance videos in Chicago five and a half hours after the shootings, which his defense argued could not have been enough time to change clothes and vehicles and get from St. Paul's East Side to Chicago.

"While we are disappointed in the outcome, we respect the Court's decision," said Ramsey County Attorney's office spokesman Dennis Gerhardstein in a statement. "Our thoughts go out to the victims' families. We will continue to pursue justice in the remaining case against Wright."

Wright still faces a separate charge of attempted second-degree murder and two counts of kidnapping in Ramsey County, stemming from a shooting on Wilson Avenue in St. Paul the day before Gonzales, Freeman and Spaulding were killed.