Charges: Girl shot in face when 2 teens unleash barrage of gunfire outside Uptown apartment building

Two teenagers have been charged with firing numerous shots on an Uptown street corner one summer’s night, with one bullet leaving a girl with facial and neck wounds.

Warrants have been issued in Hennepin County District Court for the arrests of Ralpheon Keonta Smith-Jones and Dequan Mathews-Jones, both of St. Paul, in connection with the shooting at the intersection of West Lake Street and Fremont Avenue around 11:30 p.m. on July 19.

Both defendants were 17 at the time of the shooting and have been charged in juvenile court with first- and second-degree assault. The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office has told the court it intends to have their cases moved to adult court, where a conviction would lead to a more severe sentence.

The shooting occurred on the southern border of the Lowry Hill East neighborhood. Police statistics show crime is mostly down this year in the neighborhood, with 11 fewer shootings than at this time last year. However, robberies have nearly doubled in the area.

According to the charging documents and police records:

Officers responded to the shooting outside Revel Apartments and saw a girl there who had been hit by a bullet that entered her face and exited her neck. She was among several people who were at a party in the apartment building.

More than two dozen discharged cartridge casings were recovered by police about a half-block from where the girl was wounded. Police later determined that they were fired from three guns.

Video from the area helped police identify the vehicle’s owner. The vehicle was stopped by law enforcement on July 25 in St. Paul. Smith-Jones and Mathews-Jones were among four people in the vehicle. At Smith-Jones’ feet was a .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun. Police analysis tied 14 of the gunshots at Lake and Fremont to that gun, which also had Smith-Jones’ DNA on it.

Analysis of cellphones belonging to Smith-Jones and Mathews-Jones, who is now 18 years old, puts them at the shooting scene.

Smith-Jones and Mathews-Jones were both put on probation in connection with a robbery and assault in a Target store in Roseville in March of this year.

In April, Mathews-Jones was charged with being under 18 and in possession of a pistol and third-degree riot for the assault and robbery. He pleaded guilty to those charges, was adjudicated delinquent and placed on probation.

Smith-Jones was also charged with being under 18 and in possession of a pistol from that same robbery and assault at a Target in Roseville. He was then charged with being under 18 and in possession of a pistol in July after he was arrested in a vehicle that was suspected of being involved in a shooting in Minneapolis and police found a Glock 22 under the passenger seat. He pleaded guilty to that charge in juvenile court in June and was placed on supervised probation.