Blaine man set for prison release now charged in 2020 Minneapolis killing
A Blaine, Minnesota, man who is due to be released from prison next week after serving time for illegal firearm possession was charged Friday in a 2020 killing in north Minneapolis.
The Hennepin County Attorney's Office says Melvonte Lee Peterson, 35, faces one count of second-degree murder and one count of second-degree drive-by shooting in the Aug. 31, 2020, killing.
The criminal complaint alleges Peterson shot the victim in the head and left thigh near the intersection of North 30th and Penn avenues in the Jordan neighborhood. Witnesses told police they heard up to five gunshots and saw two SUVs flee.
Investigators later traced the vehicles through public surveillance cameras to a nearby gas station and focused on a Buick LaCrosse. Its driver was "clearly visible" in footage from just minutes before the shooting, court documents state.
The car was traced to Peterson, and investigators found him on Facebook. Photos he posted of himself on the day of the shooting showed him wearing the same clothes as the man in the gas station footage, according to court records.
An hour before the shooting, another man posted a photo on Facebook of himself and Peterson, the complaint states. The caption said the two wanted the same person dead.
Court documents state investigators found a man who was a passenger in the other SUV at the scene. He told police Peterson asked him to watch his gun when he went into the gas station minutes before the shooting. The man said he left the gas station driving behind Peterson, who suddenly hit the brakes a few blocks later when the victim was walking by and "started shooting."
The next month, police arrested a third man and recovered a Glock 22 handgun that ballistics tests "revealed to be the murder weapon," the complaint states. Cellphone records placed Peterson near that man's home around the time of the shooting.
Police arrested Peterson on Oct. 12, 2020. Analysis of his cellphone placed him at the scene of the shooting and at the gas station, court records show. The man he posed with in the Facebook photos had called Peterson 10 minutes before the killing, according to the records. A couple of days after the shooting, Peterson texted someone to ask, "you want a 22?"
The complaint says Peterson has a significant criminal history, including two felony drug convictions, a third-degree assault conviction and two convictions for being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Peterson is expected to be arrested upon his release next week. Second-degree murder carries a maximum sentence of 40 years in Minnesota.