A 20-year-old man has pleaded guilty to murder in a suspected case of mistaken identity that left a Floridian shot in a Red Wing street.
Michael R. Reyes of Red Wing admitted in Goodhue County District Court this week to second-degree murder in connection with the killing in June 2019 of D'andre S. Hicks of Tampa.
The plea deal calls for first-degree murder and several other felony counts to be dismissed. It also includes giving Reyes a sentence of 19½ years. With credit for time in jail since his arrest, that would leave about 10 years to be served in prison, with the balance on supervised release. Sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 18.
On June 25, 2019, police officers saw the 28-year-old Hicks bleeding and lying on Plum Street outside a Kwik Trip convenience store.
Anthony Rowe, who identified himself to police as Hicks' brother, said he heard the gunfire and ran to the scene from his home nearby. Rowe said he and Reyes had gotten into a fight earlier that day.
"The reason they shot my brother was because they thought that my brother was me," Rowe said, according to the criminal complaint. "The shirt my brother had on, I had that on earlier."
Authorities caught up with a drunken Reyes the next day in a Woodbury hotel and arrested him after a fight, charges say.
Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482
