One shot at the victim as the train doors opened, charges say. The others shot after he tried to run away.
Three men were charged Thursday in the shooting death of a 23-year-old Mounds View man last month at a Green Line platform in St. Paul.
Kevon Ishmel Ewing was found on the platform at Dale Street and University Avenue with five gunshot wounds just before 11 p.m. May 17. Ewing, who was shot in his chest, back, right arm and right leg, was pronounced dead at Regions Hospital.
The killing was caught on surveillance video and showed Markel Alauntae Jennings, 18, Markus Antwon Jennings Jr., 22, and Lamar Kastedell Thomas, 18, all firing guns at Ewing, according to the criminal complaints charging them with aiding and abetting second-degree murder.
The charges say police found six .40-caliber casings that were fired from one gun and two 9mm casings shot from two other guns.
Markel and Markus Jennings, who are brothers from St. Paul, were arrested Thursday at an apartment building in Brooklyn Center and remained jailed ahead of first appearances on the charges Friday morning. An arrest warrant for Thomas, of St. Cloud, has been issued.
Prosecutors on Thursday also charged Thomas and Markus Jennings with aiding and abetting attempted murder and second-degree assault in connection with 20 rounds that were fired at two men standing outside Frogtown Market at 516 Rice St. just after 12:30 p.m. May 11. No one was injured.
According to Thursday’s murder complaints:
Officers spoke to a cousin of Ewing, who said they were on the train with others. He said a group recognized Ewing by his nickname and they referred to him as an opposing gang member. He said they confronted Ewing as if they wanted to fight.
He said when the train got to the Dale Street station, a younger guy in the group said, “Kill ‘em. Let’s have a shootout,” the charges say. He said the guy then pointed a gun at Ewing and fired, and that he then heard a switch going off — a gun with an auto sear attached making it fully automatic. He ran.
He said he didn’t know what led to Ewing being shot, but he heard it had to do with memorial pins that gang members wear on their clothes.
Surveillance video showed that when the light-rail train arrived at the Dale Street station, Markus Jennings, who was wearing multi-colored Crocs, a blue surgical mask and black Calvin Klein jacket, pulled a gun and shot Ewing as the doors opened.
Ewing ran from the train and to the front of another open train door, where Thomas, who was wearing a black hoodie and blue surgical mask, fired multiple rounds at him.
Markel Jennings shot at Ewing once as he lay on the platform.
The shooters and another man with them who didn’t fire a weapon fled the scene, and nearby surveillance video showed them get into a tan Buick Park Avenue. The car registers to a man with an address that Markel Jennings also lists as his.
Officers spoke to a cousin of Ewing, who said they were on the train with others. He said a group recognized Ewing by his nickname and they referred to him as an opposing gang member. He said they confronted Ewing as if they wanted to fight.
He said when the train got to the Dale Street station, a younger guy in the group said, “Kill ‘em. Let’s have a shootout,” the charges say. He said the guy then pointed a gun at Ewing and fired, and that he then heard a switch going off — a gun with an auto sear attached making it fully automatic. He ran.
He said he didn’t know what led to Ewing being shot, but he heard it had to do with memorial pins that gang members wear on their clothes.
Mom identifies sons
Police found the Buick in north Minneapolis three days after the killing. Thomas’ father approached officers as the car was being towed and said he did not know where it came from, that it had been there for a couple days.
Inside the car were sweatpants that Markus Jennings had on during the shooting and a Pittsburgh Pirates hat that train surveillance video beforehand showed him wearing, the charges say. Also found was a black sweatshirt with thick drawstrings that a shooter wore in the May 11 shooting outside the St. Paul market.
DNA testing from a surgical mask recovered near the scene of Ewing’s killing matches Markus Jennings’ DNA, the charges say, adding that he also matches the physical description and appearance of the first light-rail shooter.
Officers who are familiar with Markel Jennings identified him through the train video when he lowered his mask.
The brothers’ mother identified the two when investigators showed her surveillance photos of the shooting.
Officers identified Thomas through his “no fear” tattoo, which they say is seen on social media posts, the charges say.
Markus Jennings also faces two counts of possession of a firearm by an ineligible person in connection with the May 11 shooting. In 2020, he was convicted of first-degree aggravated robbery in Hennepin County, making him ineligible to possess firearms or ammunition. He was sentenced to four years and two months in prison, with credit for 287 days already served in custody.
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