2 men now tied to fatal shooting in SUV during suspected drug buy in St. Paul

A second man has been charged with murder in connection with two people shooting each other in an SUV during a suspected failed drug buy in St. Paul.

Antavarius Scott Baker, 28, of Minneapolis, was charged Feb. 9 in Ramsey County District Court with two counts of second-degree murder stemming from the death of David Lee Turner III, 23, of St. Paul on Feb. 2.

Baker is jailed in Hennepin County, where he’s due in court Feb. 11 on an illegal firearms charge.

Charged earlier with second-degree murder and illegal gun possession was Eithan Armani Green, 29, of Minneapolis. Green remains jailed ahead of a Feb. 24 court date.

Officers said they found a badly wounded Turner inside an SUV in the 100 block of Oneida Street.

An autopsy by the Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office revealed that Turner had eight gunshot wounds to his face, neck, chest and one arm, along with graze wounds to an arm and a thumb.

Green showed up moments later at Regions Hospital with gunshot wounds to the abdomen and a leg, the charges read.

Along with the pending gun charge in Hennepin County, Baker’s criminal history in Minnesota also includes two convictions for illegal weapons possession and one for assault.

According to the criminal complaints:

Callers reported to police hearing gunfire shortly after 10 p.m. and seeing someone running from a parked Dodge Durango.

Officers arrived to find the SUV with its engine running and the driver’s door open. That door’s window had several bullet holes. Turner was slumped over in the driver’s seat. Medics declared him dead about 10:20 p.m.

Police reviewed home surveillance video and saw the Durango parked on Oneida and a blue Ford Escape parked close by shortly before 10 p.m.

Gunfire soon erupted, creating “puffs of smoke and muzzle flashes ... inside the Durango,” the complaint read.

Green got back in the Escape, where Baker was waiting, and they left.

Officers were called to Regions soon after Green arrived to be treated for his gunshot wounds. Cellphone records reviewed by investigators placed him near where Turner was shot and at the hospital.

Green denied to law enforcement knowing Turner or about him being shot. He claimed he was drunk when he was shot and knew nothing about how it happened.

Police learned that Baker had been arrested Feb. 3 in Minneapolis with a gun. Under questioning, Baker said he and Green met up with Turner to buy marijuana before the gunfire in the Durango left Turner dead and Green wounded.