A Minneapolis man was charged with second-degree murder Tuesday, two days after police investigating a fatal weekend shooting pulled him off a bus bound to Los Angeles with a one-way ticket, no luggage and $5,000 in cash.
Rico Patrick Howard, 59, was found thanks to a tip to Minneapolis police that he was on the bus, according to the complaint filed in Hennepin County District Court. Officers headed to the Greyhound bus station, where they were pointed to the right bus and found Howard on board.
Investigators later learned that he bought the one-way ticket 20 hours after the fatal shooting of Kenneth Madison, 53, the complaint said. Madison was shot and killed about 11:40 p.m. Friday at an apartment in the 2700 block of Blaisdell Avenue S. Relatives of Madison had said the two men had a history that included a previous argument and dating the same woman.
According to the complaint, Madison was in the apartment with another man and two women when Howard arrived with another man and knocked on the door. Howard and Madison began arguing, with Madison at one point asking "What are you going to do, shoot me?" one of the women told police.
Howard pulled out a handgun and shot Madison in the chest, the complaint said, adding that Howard looked for the shell casing before threatening to kill the others in the apartment if they talked to the police. Howard also forced one of the women to leave with him, according to the complaint.
Howard remained jailed Tuesday in lieu of $1.5 million bail, according to jail records. He has a court hearing scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Howard was under supervision of state corrections officials for killing another driver while fleeing police in 2000. A Minnesota Court of Appeals ruling in a separate but similar case led Howard to withdrew his murder plea, and he was given a shorter sentence. He was released from St. Cloud prison in late 2011 and put on intensive supervised release that expires at the end of this month.
