2 facing charges in St. Paul shooting

Star Tribune

Last update: November 27, 2009 - 7:49 PM

Charges could be filed Monday in the shooting death of a teenager in St. Paul's North End neighborhood on Thanksgiving morning, police said.

Darion J. Smith, 15, of St. Paul, was shot unintentionally, police have been told, while he was in the kitchen of a residence at 38 E. Maryland Av.

A group of six to eight people had been hanging out at the home from Wednesday night into Thursday morning, police spokesman Sgt. Paul Schnell said Friday.

He said authorities were alerted just after 10 a.m. Thursday that a young man had been shot while a "gun was being played with." Investigators still were awaiting autopsy results and ballistics findings Friday, he said.

Even if the shooting was unintentional, Schnell added, the two suspects arrested Thursday -- a 19-year-old man and a 16-year-old boy -- still could face murder charges.

Schnell did not know who was alleged to have fired the gun, but he said: "I think they're both legally in the hot seat."

Investigators are expected to present the case to the Ramsey County attorney's office on Monday for consideration of charges, he said.

Neither the victim nor the suspects were believed to be living in the home.

No one answered the door at the residence on Friday afternoon. In the boulevard outside was a red rose and a card reading, "God is Real."

ANTHONY LONETREE

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