A 20-year-old man who was complicit in a north Minneapolis murder three years ago is now charged with fatally shooting an unarmed man in the chest who had been arguing with his stepfather in a North Side home.
Dashaunta D. Gomez, of Minneapolis, was charged Tuesday in Hennepin County District Court with second-degree murder and being a felon in possession of a gun in the death of 32-year-old Johnathon J. Harris, of Minneapolis. Gomez remains jailed in lieu of $1.5 million bail.
Charged earlier in the shooting in the 2000 block of Hillside Avenue was Gomez's stepfather, Demiteras A. Cooper, 37, of Minneapolis. Cooper was charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and is being held in lieu of $1 million bail.
According to the complaint against Gomez:
In the hours leading up to the killing, Cooper, Harris and another man went to a bar. Cooper and the unnamed man left, then argued and came to blows about leaving Harris behind.
Cooper drove to the home on Hillside with the man he had argued with and dropped off the man. Harris later found his way to the home.
Within a half-hour, Cooper returned to the home with Gomez. Cooper resumed his argument with the unnamed man, with numerous witnesses in the home.
Harris suspected Gomez was armed and started to pat him down. Gomez pulled a gun from his waistband and shot Harris twice in the chest from a distance of 2 to 3 feet. Harris was left on the couch bleeding from his chest.
