Robbinsdale police arrest two men in murder case

Robbinsdale police arrested two men on suspicion of murder Saturday, and they were being held in the Hennepin County jail.

Police would not confirm whether the men are suspects in a New Year's Day home invasion in which Jamis Marks, 28, was shot to death, but one was named a person of interest in an earlier search warrant connected to the case.

The other person whom police had earlier identified as a person of interest has not yet been arrested.

The Robbinsdale Police Department referred calls to Chief Wayne Shellum, who did not return messages left at his work and home.

Rhonda Kinchlow, spokeswoman for the Hennepin County attorney's office, said the two men had not been charged as of Saturday afternoon.

She could not confirm whether the men were suspects in the Marks killing.

According to police, about 2:35 a.m. on Jan. 1, two men armed with rifles forcefully entered the Robbinsdale home of Marks and his wife, Heather, shortly after they and another couple had returned from a night out for New Year's Eve.

The surviving man dead-bolted the doors as the robbers fled. Then the victims heard the door being kicked as the gunmen apparently tried to reenter before fleeing again.

After the gunmen left, Heather Marks called police from a bedroom closet and one of the visiting friends told the dispatcher that Jamis Marks had been shot in the neck and chest.

According to court documents, an informant has told police that one of the men arrested Saturday was involved in "robbing houses" with a second man with whom he works at a grocery store.

That man was not arrested Saturday but has been identified as a person of interest in the Marks case, according to a search warrant and supporting documents filed Jan. 18.

Records show that his cell phone was in the area the night Marks was shot.

In August, the men named in the search warrant were stopped while one of them was driving a Chrysler Sebring. The driver was later charged with drug possession, obstructing police and giving a false name.

Although he was not one of the two men arrested Saturday, that driver has been seen driving the same make and model of car while under police surveillance in recent weeks, according to the search warrant affidavit.

A Chrysler Sebring appears on a neighbor's surveillance video taken of the Markses' street on the night of his death.