A man charged in the shooting death of Albert Lee Hill early Tuesday outside Willard's Liquors in St. Paul had been beaten up recently and vowed that the men who did it "would pay," a court document said.
John Lamont Brown Jr., 30, of St. Paul, was charged Thursday in Ramsey County District Court with one count of second-degree murder.
Although the complaint also names four other people who were arrested early Tuesday in connection with the case, no one else has been charged yet. The investigation is continuing.
The charges said that Hill's girlfriend told police that "J Rock" -- later identified as Brown -- had shot him. She said that she and Hill, 29, of St. Paul, had been at the bar in the Frogtown neighborhood only moments when he told her that they had to leave, the complaint said. Brown held the door open for them, then Hill told her to "go, run."
She heard four gunshots and turned to see Hill collapse. She said Brown left immediately after the shooting, and she provided a description of his car.
The complaint said Brown and three other men went to a bar in Minneapolis, where they were joined by a girlfriend of one of the men. Brown's car and another that was traveling with it were stopped in St. Paul about three hours after the shooting, and Brown and the four other people were arrested.
Pat Pheifer
