Minneapolis man charged in deadly shootout at Bullwinkle's Saloon

A 34-year-old man has been charged with taking part in a Minneapolis bar shootout that left one person dead and several others wounded in September.

Devord Allen of Minneapolis was charged Wednesday in Hennepin County District Court with first-degree riot resulting in death and two counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon.

Authorities said Allen was among at least five people who involved in the shootout about 1 a.m. Sept. 9 at Bullwinkle's Saloon east of downtown in the 1400 block of S. Washington Avenue.

The gun battle killed 34-year-old Cortez Maurice Crumble of Brooklyn Park. Three other men in their 30s suffered serious injuries, police said.

The criminal complaint against Allen does not specify who was responsible for shooting Crumble or the others during a private event being held at the bar.

Allen remains in the Sherburne County jail without bail in connection with a federal illegal weapons possession case. At the time of the bar shooting, he was on parole and supposed to be living in a halfway house, the complaint said.

According to the charges and a second court document:

Gunfire erupted inside and outside the bar after a confrontation between patrons and security personnel arranged by "Mo Doe," which provided the entertainment for a private R&B night party.

When police arrived, they "found a chaotic scene with multiple people injured from gunfire." Crumble was lying in the entry to the bar. He was taken to HCMC, where he soon died.

According to witnesses and video from the scene, a fight erupted near the bar's entry when two people refused security's request to leave the event, and gunfire broke out inside. The two people and a wounded Crumble then "stumble[d] out of the doorway."

The original pair ran to a vehicle as a man shot at them from the sidewalk. Another man returned fire from next to a nearby orange SUV.

About that time, Allen emerged from the bar and started shooting at the second gunman. One of hisshots hit a passing Metro Transit bus.

"In total, at least five people, including the defendant, were firing their weapons indiscriminately at others," the criminal complaint said.

Officers tracked Allen's cellphone movements and arrested him Sept. 29. He said he fired gunshots after leaving the bar, but "he does not know who he was firing at or why," the charges read.

He said he fled the scene immediately and sold the gun on the street. He refused to say who bought it.

The shootout capped one of the city's more violent nights of the year. Earlier, Jeremiah L. Durr, 16, of Jordan was shot to death in the 1600 block of N. Plymouth Avenue. About an hour later, four people were shot and wounded at N. Lyndale Avenue and Broadway, known to be one of the city's more crime-ridden intersections.