Two charged with murder in St. Paul drive-by shooting of man parked in car with two young children

Two men stand charged with second-degree murder in connection with a drive-by shooting in November that killed a man — possibly an unintended target — who was parked on a St. Paul street with two young children.

Steven Rawls Jr., 25, of Minneapolis and Jarvis Sanders, 23, of Gary, Ind., are charged with two counts of second-degree murder and six counts of attempted second-degree murder in the shooting death of Andre Lorenzo Mitchell, 26, of Minneapolis. Mitchell, who died en route to the hospital, was shot seven times, according to autopsy findings. Mitchell’s 5-year-old sister and his 2-month-old baby were also in the vehicle. The little girl told police she covered the baby with her body during the shooting, and investigators noted broken glass and a bullet hole in the baby’s seat. No one in the car besides Mitchell was hurt.

Both men remain in the Ramsey County jail in lieu of $10 million bail.

According to the complaint:

The incident began with a call to police in the early afternoon of Nov. 22 from a woman living in the 600 block of Aurora Avenue, who said at least five women outside her apartment were threatening her with bodily harm. Officers remained on the scene until the situation was resolved.

About an hour later, police responded to a report of gunfire outside the Frogtown apartment building and found a parked Mazda with at least a dozen bullet holes and several shattered windows. Mitchell was gravely wounded on the ground outside the car.

A 26-year-old man who was also in the Mazda said they were waiting for the mother of Mitchell’s child to arrive when a black SUV pulled up and shots were fired. Police used surveillance video to determine that Rawls was the owner of the SUV and traced the vehicle to Rawls’ Minneapolis apartment.

Rawls was arrested Tuesday when he arrived at HCMC in Minneapolis with a gunshot wound to his hand. He admitted he owned the black SUV and said he was the brother of the woman who had called police for help on Nov. 22, but he denied he was in St. Paul that day.

It wasn’t clear if there was any connection between the women who had threatened Rawls’ sister and Mitchell and his passengers. The other man in the Mazda told police that neither he nor Mitchell was from the area and that Mitchell had no enemies that he knew of.

Police questioned Rawls’ sister, who denied calling a hit on anyone. She claimed to have never known or seen Mitchell before the shooting.

Paul Walsh of the Minnesota Star Tribune contributed to this story.