west metro
Arrest made in 1998 gang-related killing in Richfield
- Article by: Star Tribune
- Updated: July 20, 2012 - 8:40 PM
3 men were ambushed outside Richfield restaurant.
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Police got the break they needed and have made an arrest in a retaliatory gang-related shooting death 14 years ago outside a Richfield restaurant.
Michael Joseph Scott Jr., 44, of Brooklyn Center, was charged Thursday in the killing of Gilbert Toomer, 27, of Minneapolis.
Scott remains in Hennepin County jail in lieu of $2 million bail pending a court appearance Friday. He is charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder for the benefit of a gang.
Toomer and two other men were ambushed in a parking lot while leaving what then was a Chi-Chi's restaurant. Toomer was fatally shot in the face, while one of the other two was shot but survived.
A man incarcerated with Scott told authorities that Scott admitted to the shooting, according to the complaint. Later, Scott acknowledged being the shooter but said his intended target was the one among the three men who escaped unharmed, the complaint added.
Police suspect that those involved were members of the Shotgun Crips and the Gangster Disciples.
According to the charges in the Richfield slaying, a witness to the incident on April 4, 1998, said that shortly after midnight Scott got out of an SUV and walked toward Toomer and the other men, yelling. Five or six gunshots were fired, and Scott got back in the SUV and drove off.
The wounded man told police he and the other two were in Chi-Chi's that night. The man among the three who was not shot made eye contact with someone and said, "That's the guy I shot in the chest months and months ago." The three went out to their vehicle, and that's when Scott opened fire.
An informant told police that the shooting was in retaliation for Scott being shot at the now-defunct Riverview Supper Club in Minneapolis in 1997, the year gang violence played a significant role in many of the city's nearly 100 homicides. That tally earned Minneapolis the nickname "Murderapolis."
PAUL WALSH
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