Man charged with sparking Minneapolis fight that ended with friend's shooting death

The suspect was at least the second person charged in connection with the case.

August 14, 2019 at 2:53AM

An arrest warrant has been issued for a 34-year-old Minneapolis man for his suspected involvement in a deadly confrontation last month that began with an argument over a car blocking traffic and ended with the fatal shooting of the man's friend.

Witnesses told police that Richard Akande was the main aggressor in an altercation that ended with the killing of Pierre Watson, 34, who was shot in the torso six times, according to authorities. Police said that Akande had attended a birthday party at an apartment complex at 1001 W. Lyndale Av. that spilled out into an adjoining parking lot early on July 27. As he got into his car to leave, police say a fistfight broke out between Akande and a man whose vehicle was blocking traffic in the lot, during which Akande pistol-whipped the other man.

Witnesses told police that at some point during the fight Akande dropped a handgun he was holding, and that Watson picked it up, cocked it, and fired at the other man, striking him in the left thigh and calf, according to a criminal complaint filed in the case. In response, one of the man's friends, 27-year-old Robert Buckner, drew his own gun and shot Watson three or four times, killing him at about 3:20 a.m., the complaint said.

Last week, prosecutors announced that Buckner wouldn't be charged for firing the fatal shots, saying that he shot Watson to "protect himself and another." But he remains charged with fleeing police, after he led officers on a high-speed chase through several north-metro cities days after the shooting.

On Monday, Akande was charged by warrant with first-degree riot resulting in death and illegal possession of a firearm — due to past felony convictions for crimes ranging from assault to drug possession, the complaint said. It wasn't immediately known whether he was in custody, but he hadn't been booked in the Hennepin County jail as of Tuesday afternoon, online records show.

Since he hasn't yet made his first court appearance, no attorney was listed in county court records.

In a police interview, Akande admitted to being at the party and getting into a fistfight — telling investigators that he gets "nervous when there are too many dudes around" — and saying that he left the scene after seeing Watson had been shot, according to the complaint.

about the writer

Libor Jany

Reporter

Libor Jany is the Minneapolis crime reporter for the Star Tribune. He joined the newspaper in 2013, after stints in newsrooms in Connecticut, New Jersey, California and Mississippi. He spent his first year working out of the paper's Washington County bureau, focusing on transportation and education issues, before moving to the Dakota County team.

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