Man claims self-defense in 'chaotic' Duluth shooting that killed his friend

DULUTH — Surveillance videos from an otherwise pleasant evening in mid-May 2021 show Patrick Battees Jr. hanging out with a friend on his sister's porch in Duluth's Central Hillside neighborhood. A small and tense crowd gathered, there was a scuffle, and weapons were drawn.

Battees broke away from the scrum, but turned and fired his .45 caliber gun in the direction of the crowd. Juamada K. Anderson, his friend, dropped — a fatal gunshot wound to his head.

The jury trial for Battees started Friday morning at the St. Louis County Courthouse with opening statements and testimony from the state's witnesses, including Erbert & Gerbert's delivery driver Travis Busch, who called 911, and two Duluth police officers who tended to the scene that was described as "chaotic." The defendant, who was a month shy of his 18th birthday at the time of the shooting, faces two second-degree murder charges and another felony charge for recklessly discharging a firearm within a municipality.

Battees was certified to stand trial as an adult in October 2022.

"This case is about one shot — one decision and one shot that ended the life of Juamada Anderson on May 22, 2021," prosecutor Nichole Carter said in her opening statement.

Battees doesn't deny that he killed one of his best friends, his lawyer said. But the defendant had been punched, his life verbally threatened, and had a gun drawn on him in the moments preceding the fatal shot.

"How long does a person have to wait until they fire a gun in self-defense?" J.D. Schmid asked in his opening statement.

State witness Reid Erickson, a patrol officer for the Duluth Police Department, testified that he was on the scene in the 100 block of E. 3rd Street and tended to the crowd around Anderson, who was lying in a pool of blood, responsive but struggling to breathe.

"There were a lot of people — a lot of screaming and yelling," Erickson recalled.

Busch was driving a company car topped with the sandwich shop's logo. He was training in a new employee when he saw the shooting unfold in front of him. He slammed on the brakes, he said, and ducked down at the sound of several gunshots. Busch called 911 and later approached a police officer to give a full report.

Busch's description of the shooter, though — a black man in his 20s with a short haircut and tie-dyed shirt — doesn't resemble Battees, who is Native American and was dressed at the time in a white T-shirt with a black sweatshirt tied around his neck.

Several other men and a juvenile were charged in the incident. Tyrone Childs Sr. was convicted in December 2021 of having a firearm as a felon and of a drive-by shooting. He was sentenced to more than five years in prison. According to court documents, he admitted to firing his 9mm at "some Native dude" from inside his van after the initial gunshot. Childs said he then handed off his gun to a juvenile male.