St. Paul authorities ID homicide victim, charge suspected home invader with murder

Authorities identified the man found shot in his bed Wednesday morning in his St. Paul home, and prosecutors have charged a man suspected in his killing.

James Harmon, 36, was found dead by a roommate in the 1100 block of White Bear Avenue. Authorities charged 27-year-old Tevon Antwon King with second-degree murder on Friday.

King had been charged earlier this week with invading someone else's home on the same block Tuesday night. His first court appearance was Friday morning.

According to charging documents:

Harmon's roommate called officers to the home Wednesday morning to report that Harmon was not breathing. Police found Harmon in his basement bedroom wrapped in covers with blood on his sheets and a spent shell casing at the foot of his bed.

Medics declared him dead at 9:27 a.m.

Harmon's roommate said that she last spoke to him about 9 p.m. June 6. They talked about how much Harmon enjoyed his job, and how excited he was to work the next day. At about midnight, the roommate woke up to gunshots outside the house. She told police that two gunshots sounded like they came from the house. But Harmon did not come outside of his bedroom to investigate and the commotion hadn't woken her children, so she went back to bed.

King had been arrested after midnight after a standoff with police. He had reportedly fired at a different home on the block before entering it. Officers recovered an emptied 9mm handgun at the scene, finding shell casings from the weapon at that home matched casings found at Harmon's.

Police interviewed a man who works with King, who said he believed King had a mental breakdown and thought people were following him. When the coworker hung out with King and others to drink and smoke weed, King's behavior made others uncomfortable enough to leave. When the coworker gave King and King's girlfriend a ride to King's mother's house, he heard a "pop, pop, pop" and turned to see King with a black handgun.

The coworker told officers that King may have fired a handgun from the back of the vehicle, adding that he told King and his girlfriend to get out before calling King's mother to say something was wrong with King.

King told authorities he believed the weed he smoked was laced with fentanyl without his knowledge. He said the 9mm handgun was his girlfriend's, and he doesn't remember anything after leaving his coworker's house. The next thing he remembered was police yelling at him and an AR-15 in his face.

Police showed him pictures of Harmon's home, and King gave police accurate descriptions of the building's layout. He denied he would hurt anyone, stating that he might have found a gun in the area and that he was possibly being framed.