Three men charged with murder for St. Paul Green Line station shooting

Authorities arrested and charged two teenagers and an adult with murder for a shooting at a St. Paul Metro Transit Green Line station.

The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office charged Lamar Thomas and Markel Jennings, both 18, and 21-year-old Markus Jennings with second-degree murder Thursday. Prosecutors allege the trio shot 23-year-old Kevon Ewing of Mounds View multiple times as he exited the Metro Green Line train in St. Paul last month. Ewing died of his injuries.

Markel and Markus Jennings’ hearings are set for Friday morning. Authorities issued a warrant for Thomas.

According to charging documents:

St. Paul officers responded to a shooting on the train’s platform near Dale Street and University Avenue by around 10:55 p.m. on May 17. They found Ewing lying on the platform with multiple gunshot wounds. Officers rendered aid to Ewing until medics transported him to Regions Hospital, where he died that night.

Evidence suggested three guns were used to kill Ewing. Officers found six .40 caliber casings and 9mm casings on the platform and inside the train. Testing showed the 9mm casings were fired from different guns.

Police interviewed Ewing’s cousin who claimed to be at the scene. The cousin said he and Ewing were on the train with other cousins when a group recognized Ewing. Someone from that group asked “Who opp this is?”, calling Ewing an opposing gang member. The man and his cousins planned to run at the train’s next stop, but said a member of the other group said “Kill ‘em. Let’s have a shootout.”

One of the men allegedly pointed a gun at Ewing and fired. The cousin said a black and red tattoo covered the top of that man’s hand. He then heard someone fire a switch — a gun with an attached auto sear that makes the weapon shoot as if it’s automatic. He escaped with his other cousins, adding that Ewing’s shooting may have been associated with memorial pins worn by gang members on their clothes.

Surveillance footage supported the cousin’s account, showing a man with a blue surgical mask shoot at Ewing as the train doors opened at Dale Street station. Ewing then ran past an open train door where another man with a blue surgical mask, bearing a tattoo on his right hand, fired multiple rounds at Ewing. Video captured a third man exit the train and shoot Ewing once as he lay dying on the platform. The shooters and another man with them fled the scene and drove away in a tan Buick.

An autopsy by the Ramsey County medical examiner found Ewing died after being shot five times. Bullets pierced his back, chest, right arm and right leg.

Police identified the man with a hand tattoo as Lamar Thomas, and identified Markel Jennings as the third shooter. DNA from a blue surgical mask recovered near the scene matched Markus Jennings, and Markus and Markel Jennings’ mother identified the two when police showed her photos from the shooting.

A search of the tan Buick uncovered a Pittsbugh Pirates hat matching the one worn by Ewing’s shooter on May 17. Officers also found sweatpants similar to those worn by Ewing’s first shooter, and clothing worn during a May 11 shooting that earned Thomas and Markus Jennings an attempted murder charge. Markus was previously convicted of first degree aggravated robbery.

An earlier version of this story gave incorrect ages for Lamar Thomas and Markel Jennings.