Two men were charged Friday with murdering a 37-year-old Minneapolis man who was found shot to death last month in the city’s Near North neighborhood.
Two charged with shooting, killing man in Minneapolis
One of the suspects has also been linked to a murder that went unsolved for nearly two years, according to federal charges.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
January 20, 2024 at 12:41AM
Lavester Tramaine Breham, 34, and Deandre Franklin, 32, are the two charged in Hennepin County District Court. Both were charged through warrants with second-degree murder. The victim was Mikiyel D. Patton, a 37-year-old Minneapolis man who was facing charges before his death for allegedly stealing five French bulldog puppies from a home south of the Twin Cities.
According to the criminal complaint, Minneapolis police responded just after 6:30 p.m. to the area of 915 N. Newton Av., and found Patton in the front seat of a Honda CR-V with five gunshot wounds to the head and neck. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Franklin is a Crystal resident, while Breham is from Sauk Village, Ill.
Surveillance footage showed the CR-V park at the address before muzzle flashes are seen coming from inside the vehicle, the charges allege. A suspect exits the driver’s side as another suspect runs toward the vehicle, according to charges. That second suspect opens the front passenger door and fires a single gunshot at Patton before the two suspects flee on foot into an alley, the charges say. Investigators believe the suspects got into another vehicle to leave the area.
Police found one .40-caliber bullet casing outside the passenger side of the CR-V, and three spent 10mm shells inside the vehicle.
Breham and Franklin were also suspects in a separate investigation by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the ATF had a surveillance camera outside a Brooklyn Park house where the men were staying, the complaint says. About 50 minutes before the murder, video shows Breham and Franklin taking items out of the CR-V, spraying it with a cleaning product and wiping it down with paper towels while wearing gloves, the complaint alleges.
Attorney information was not available for Breham and Franklin for the state case.
The charges say Breham’s cellphone was tracked to the area of Minneapolis where Patton lived before later arriving at the scene of the murder.
Breham and Franklin were arrested and lodged Dec. 20 in Hennepin County jail on a controlled substance charge and on an unspecified federal charge. Both were transferred to Sherburne County jail seven days later in the federal case.
Franklin was recently linked to a Minneapolis shooting death that had gone unsolved for nearly two years, according to newly filed federal charges.
The charges included no mention of a connection with the dogs that were stolen.
An earlier version of this story had an incorrect spelling for Deandre Franklin. It also had incorrect information about the status of the two men charged. They are in custody.
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