Charges: Raheim Cooper, 19, fatally shot Abraham Barbly, 20, during party inside Plymouth vacation home
MINNEAPOLIS – A 19-year-old Brooklyn Park man has been charged with murder in last weekend's shooting death of 20-year-old Abraham Barbly at a birthday party held inside a Plymouth vacation rental home.
The Hennepin County Attorney's Office says Raheim Cooper faces two counts of second-degree murder.
The criminal complaint states that officers were called to the home on the 5800 block of Oakview Lane on a report of a shooting involving a fully-automatic handgun, resulting in one person being injured.
Officers arrived to find Barbly on the kitchen floor with several gunshot wounds. He was was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police soon found a backpack near their squad car, which contained a cellphone, several bags of marijuana, and a loaded Glock 21C .45-caliber handgun. It had a mounted laser sight, and it was modified by a "switch," or "sear," which allows it to fire rounds in rapid succession. Police say Cooper was near the backpack when they found it.
Investigators later reviewed body camera footage, and saw a girl wearing the backpack when officers arrived.
Police interviewed the girl, who said she was at the party, but left and was going to take an Uber home. She said "she heard a pop and saw a lot of people start to run." She said Cooper asked her to take the backpack.
Other witnesses told police that Cooper and Barbly had "been feuding over Snapchat for the past few months," and they got into an argument at the party. Witnesses say they saw Cooper "throw a punch and point a gun up in the air." When he moved it back down, they heard gunfire, and saw Barbly fall down.
A neighbor's security camera recorded someone yelling "get Raheim out of there" as people were fleeing the home.
Cooper told investigators that he wasn't the shooter, and instead someone handed him the gun after the shooting and he put it in his backpack. He said he didn't want the weapon, so he handed the backpack to the girl "because he didn't think the police would talk to her or search her."
In another interview, Cooper admitted to punching Barbly in the face. He asked another person at the party to give him a gun, which he then pointed towards the ground near Barbly. He says he was then "bumped or pushed from behind and the gun fired several rounds."
Cooper is being held in the Hennepin County Jail on a $1 million bail. If convicted, he could face up to 80 years in prison.
