A man pleaded guilty Thursday in connection to a deadly St. Paul shooting that happened more than a year ago.

Court documents show E'shaun Maurice Funches submitted a plea deal last week for the Dec. 13, 2023 shooting. In the deal, he pleaded guilty to one count each of second-degree murder and illegal possession of a firearm.

If a judge accepts the plea deal, Funches will be sentenced to 19.5 years in prison. His sentencing is scheduled for April 24.

The shooting happened at a store on the 400 block of University Avenue. Police said multiple callers reported hearing two or three gunshots. 

The complaint says that when officers arrived, they found the victim, later identified as 30-year-old Alfonzo Armstead, with gunshot wounds in his back, abdomen and leg. He was semi-conscious when they arrived, and said he couldn't breathe before losing consciousness altogether. He was taken to Regions Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

A police sergeant witnessed a possible suspect running immediately after the shooting, where he stopped the man and took him into custody. According to the complaint, he was carrying clothing and appeared to be trying to discard them into a dumpster. Those pieces of clothing matched those of the shooter, as caught on surveillance video.

He allegedly told officers he found the clothes, and when further asked why he would have been trying to throw them away, he is alleged to have told investigators that he was trying to throw away candy wrappers, not the clothes.

Funches has a prior conviction of felony second-degree aggravated robbery, which bans him from owning a firearm.