A 25-year-old man was charged Thursday in the shooting death of a man found in a St. Paul alley.
James W. Davis-Drew was charged with second degree murder in the death of 20-year-old Erick Renada Pineda Ordonez, of St. Paul. Davis-Drew was accused of aiding and abetting and being aided in Ordonez's unintentional death during a robbery attempt.
According to the criminal complaint:
On Oct. 11, police responded about 7 a.m. to a call of a dead man near a home listed as a vacant building at 665 Van Buren Avenue. Officers found Ordonez covered in blood slumped over directly outside the door of a car, which was registered to him. The Ramsey County Medical Examiner's Office determined he had died from four gunshot wounds.
Witnesses said they heard several gunshots around 3 a.m. One witness said two men ran eastbound through the alley after the shots were fired. Another witness said he saw Ordonez's car drive north on St. Albans Street crossing Van Buren Avenue with the brake lights illuminated. A little later, he noticed brake lights from behind the house at 665 Van Buren Avenue. Later, the witness saw a man on crutches walk east on the sidewalk in front of the house and appear to meet up with a woman who walked from across the street before he lost sight of them. The witness then heard gunshots come from behind the house.
A fingerprint lifted from the inside handle of the front passenger door of Ordonez's car matched the known print for Davis-Drew, who was sentenced in 2008 to more than 4 years in prison for first degree aggravated robbery.
Police found Ordonez's wallet without cash inside of a grill in the front yard of 639 Van Buren Avenue, where Davis-Drew sleeps once or twice a week.
Bank records showed that Ordonez withdrew more than $300 from his account on Oct. 11 a little after 2 a.m. at a Super America convenience store in Fridley. The investigation revealed that a taxi had picked up a fare at 639 Van Buren Avenue about 3:30 a.m. and took a man to the Greyhound bus station in Minneapolis.