A 26-year-old St. Paul man has pleaded guilty to charges related to a shootout that killed a 14-year-old boy at a 2021 graduation party in Woodbury, Washington County Attorney Kevin Magnuson said Friday.
Man pleads guilty in Woodbury graduation party shooting that killed 14-year-old boy
Demaris N. Hobbs-Ekdahl was in the backseat of a car when he was shot and killed in the shootout.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
February 24, 2024 at 1:44AM
As part of the agreement, Enrique Lucio Davila pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting second-degree unintentional murder without intent, and second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon. He will receive a 20-year prison sentence on May 3, Magnuson said in the news release.
According to the criminal complaint, 14-year-old Demaris N. Hobbs-Ekdahl was in the backseat of a car when he was shot and killed in the shootout at the graduation party in the 6100 block of Edgewood Avenue.
Hobbs-Ekdahl’s stepfather, Keith Dawson, fired several shots at the other group at the party that included Davila and co-defendant Xavier Hudson, according to charges. Hudson and Davila then fired back more than 40 times, with one bullet striking Hobbs-Ekdahl. He was later pronounced dead from blood loss.
Dawson pleaded guilty to the drive-by shooting in January 2023 and is serving a seven-year prison sentence. Hudson was found guilty of aiding and abetting second-degree murder following a nine-day jury trial last September, and sentenced to 37 years in prison.
“This senseless act of violence took the life of an innocent child and shattered the peace of our community, leaving a trail of devastation and grief,” Magnuson said in the release.
Davila remains in custody at the Washington County jail awaiting sentencing.
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