As two groups of women squabbled in a St. Paul parking lot Monday night, Rashad L. Burch, 25, walked over to a van that was parked near the action, authorities say.

In the passenger seat was Dwight (White White) Tate, 24, a man with whom Burch had a grudge, according to a criminal complaint filed Thursday.

Burch pulled out a silver handgun, the van's driver later told police, and he said to Tate: "White White. You know what time it is."

As the driver panicked and put the van in reverse, shots rang out. The van struck a fence, Tate fell into the parking lot and Burch stood over Tate and he fired again, the driver said.

Tate died early Tuesday at Regions Hospital, and Burch was charged Thursday in Ramsey County District Court with second-degree murder.

According to the complaint filed against him, Burch was alleged to have told someone on his cell phone almost immediately after the shooting that Tate had killed his "homeboy."

The arguments and shooting marked the start of a violent night on the city's East Side.

Just after 3 a.m. Tuesday, a third man, Romell Hill, 19, was shot to death by police after Hill allegedly shot and wounded a police officer. Like the earlier altercation, that incident, too, occurred at the Maryland Park Apartments, 1619 E. Maryland Av. Police were pursuing Hill because he'd been at the scene earlier.

At the start, however, the tensions involved only women.

According to the complaint filed Thursday:

A woman identified by the initials D.L.G. was at the apartment complex with two "Burch girls" when a woman named Dominique tried to punch her "because D.L.G. has been messing with Dominique's baby's daddy."

D.L.G., in turn, maced Dominique. The three then drove away, and the Burch girls called in other family members for what they expected would be a large fight.

No blows were landed during the subsequent faceoff, which drew about 20 women and men to the parking lot.

Rashad Burch had driven to the apartment complex with a brother and a cousin, the latter of whom recalled Burch saying, "I shouldn't even be here because I got the heat on me," referring to a gun that he was carrying.

The complaint said that after Burch allegedly shot Tate, his brother and cousin told him that he was "stupid" for having fired the gun with his "whole family there."

He was arrested in an apartment in the 200 block of Ravoux Street, and has refused to talk with police.

Burch, who was described in the complaint as a "confirmed Selby Siders gang member," was being held Thursday at the Ramsey County jail in lieu of $500,000 bail.

Anthony Lonetree • 612-673-4109