Murder charges filed in August north Minneapolis shooting

A Brooklyn Park man has been arrested in Wisconsin and charged with murder in a fatal shooting in Minneapolis this summer.

Michael L. Ferguson, 24, was charged Thursday in Hennepin County District Court with one count each of second-degree murder with intent and ineligible possession of a firearm.

Authorities believe Ferguson killed Ky'reon Watkins, 23, on Aug. 24 in north Minneapolis after two men in a group scuffled on the sidewalk in the 2000 block of N. Aldrich Avenue.

Watkins, a father of infant twins, died after being shot twice in the right side of his head, the charges said.

According to the complaint: A witness told police that he was standing near Watkins and saw Ferguson fire multiple times at a group of men standing on a sidewalk. The witness was grazed by a bullet and said he saw Watkins struck by gunfire.

Police recovered surveillance video that captured the shooting. It showed about 20 men standing on the sidewalk, including Ferguson, Watkins and the witness.

Ferguson and another man "squared up" as if to fight but then went their separate ways. Ferguson entered the passenger side of a nearby car, exited, pointed a gun at a group of men that remained on the sidewalk and fired multiple shots, the charges said.

Ferguson fled and was arrested Sept. 3 in Milwaukee. He denied involvement in the shooting and asked who had died. When he heard the victim was Watkins, he told police Watkins was his "homie," according to the complaint.

Ferguson then confessed that he was in the area, that a man had wanted to fight him and that he later fired at the group of men, the charges said.