Murder charge: St. Paul gang member stood over rival, shot him 'at very close range'

A 19-year-old St. Paul gang member forced a rival to the ground, stood over the man and fatally shot him "at very close range" while he was on his back during a late-night street clash in early September, according to prosecutors.

Michael C. Garland of St. Paul was charged Friday in Ramsey County District Court with intentional second-degree murder in connection with the shooting of 22-year-old Kacey L. Feiner during a confrontation about 1 a.m. on Sept. 7 in the 2100 block of Glenridge Avenue, a short residential street that runs into Battle Creek Regional Park.

Garland appeared in court Monday and remains jailed. Court records do not show legal representation for him.

Feiner is one of 23 people who have been slain in St. Paul so far this year, with about one-third of those killings coming in September. The most recent was Saturday, in which Wayne Brown, 29, of St. Paul was shot and killed in the 1000 block of Hudson Road.

The violent month prompted Police Chief Todd Axtell to beef up patrols across the city to cope with what he called an unprecedented surge in homicides.

According to the criminal complaint:

Witnesses told police that they heard arguing before gunfire from a large-caliber firearm, then shots from a smaller-caliber weapon. One person told police that Garland drove up to the scene and started shooting with several people nearby.

They saw Feiner down on the street and then put in a car. He was declared dead at Regions Hospital.

Police determined that Feiner was a Ham Crazy gang member, while Garland is with the EBK gang.

"They had recently been in a feud over a firearm," the charging document read.

Less than an hour earlier, Feiner and Garland were exchanging angry texts about meeting somewhere.

Once they both arrived at Glenridge Avenue, an agitated Garland "either hit or pushed Feiner down, and Feiner ended up on his back," the complaint continued.

Garland "stood over Feiner and shot him at very close range." A medical examiner's report said Feiner was hit by anywhere from seven to 11 rounds.

More gunfire was heard as Garland fled the scene. No witnesses saw that Feiner was armed.

Garland told a fellow EBK gang member soon after the shooting that "I just tweaked" and contended that Feiner had a gun.

Feiner had come to the attention of authorities before for suspected gang affiliations. In 2015, he and another man were charged in connection with a drive-by shooting that left a 17-year-old boy wounded, an attack that authorities suspected was gang-motivated.

Feiner had been riding in the front passenger seat of a car from which the shots were fired, and a 9-millimeter handgun was reportedly recovered from under a rear seat cushion.

He accepted a deal that required him to plead guilty to committing a crime for benefit of a gang and illegal gun possession, with charges dropped, and was sentenced to five years in prison.

Star Tribune staff writer Libor Jany contributed to this report. Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482