A 24-year-old man faces manslaughter charges in the accidental shooting of another man in Minneapolis earlier this year.
Prosecutors charged Jaleon Davis with second-degree manslaughter in the March 17 shooting of Kamani Davis, of St. Paul. The two men were not related, prosecutors said.
A warrant was issued Wednesday for Jaleon Davis' arrest. As of Wednesday afternoon, he was not in custody.
The two were hanging out with a group of friends at a house in the 3600 block of Aldrich Avenue N. shortly before 11 p.m. in anticipation of a night out in downtown Minneapolis, prosecutors said.
Jaleon Davis, who had a gun in his pocket, was sitting in the living room near Kamani Davis, they said. While reaching into his pocket to retrieve some cash, his finger inadvertently squeezed the trigger as he pulled the gun out, Jaleon told detectives, according to a criminal complaint.
The bullet entered Kamani Davis' left lower back and exited through his right lower abdomen, mortally wounding him, prosecutors said. He was taken to a nearby hospital, but doctors were unable to save him.
Jaleon Davis would later tell police that he hadn't intended to shoot the other man, saying that he'd taken the magazine out of the gun — which didn't have a safety — but had forgotten about the bullet in the chamber, according to the complaint. He said that he had recently bought the gun and didn't yet have a permit to carry, but insisted he had planned to apply for one around the time the shooting happened.
"Due to Defendant's failure to exercise due care when possessing and handling a loaded firearm, Defendant is a danger to himself and others and therefore a warrant is requested," the complaint read.
