A 45-year-old man with a violent criminal history has pleaded guilty to shooting a woman in St. Paul.
Antoine L. Powell, of St. Paul, pleaded guilty this week in Ramsey County District Court to second-degree unintentional murder in connection with the shooting on Sept. 3 that killed Anna Marie Wagener, 41, of St. Paul, and severely wounded another woman.
The plea deal calls for Powell to receive a sentence of slightly more than 11 years. With credit for time in jail since his arrest, Powell will serve the first 7 ½ years in prison and the balance on supervised release. Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 27.
Neither police nor prosecutors have offered a motive for the shooting. Investigators said at the time that they believed that the suspect and victim knew each other.
Police officers arrived at Arcade Street and E. Cook Avenue shortly before 3:40 a.m. and saw Wagener with gunshot wounds to her chest and leg. An autopsy found that she had been shot six times.
She had recently obtained a permit to carry a firearm and a gun "because the area where she lived wasn't safe," according to the criminal complaint.
Powell was on probation at the time of the shootings in early September for a weapons offense in 2014 out of Hennepin County. Court records also show that he has three convictions in Minnesota for drugs, three for bringing drugs or alcohol into jail, and one each for assault and credit card fraud.
Paul Walsh
