Law enforcement continue to search for a murder suspect who is now charged with carrying out the violent death of Philip Charles Borer Nelson, who was shot multiple times and found dead Thursday inside an apartment building in Columbia Heights.
Using statements from a woman who lived in the unit at the LaBelle Park Condos where Nelson was shot, surveillance videos and evidence collected at the scene, authorities identified the gunman as Phillip Leron Miller, 41, of Brooklyn Park, and charged him with second-degree murder. A warrant for Miller's arrest accompanied the complaint, which was filed Tuesday in Anoka County District Court.
Borer Nelson, 31, had arrived at his ex-girlfriend's apartment around 3:30 a.m. to "take care of a few things," his mother, Bridget Borer, said Friday. About 15 minutes later, the woman thought Borer Nelson had left and called a male friend she claimed to know only as "Ox." While he was there, the woman said she noticed a dark figure hiding behind her couch in the living room. She told "Ox" what she had seen and retreated to the bedroom. Shortly after, she said he heard two male voices screaming and what appeared to be multiple gunshots, the complaint said.
The woman went to a neighbor to call 911 and Ox fled the scene in a newer 4-door passenger vehicle with Illinois plates. Police arrived about 4:34 a.m. on a call of a possible burglary and found Borer Nelson behind the couch covered in blood with multiple gunshot wounds. Detectives at the scene found six .40 caliber cartridges, including one recovered from the victim, the complaint states.
Though the woman claims she did not know the shooter's real name and only knew him by his nickname, Ox, investigators found that she had bought a phone for Miller and that his number was in her phone log identified by multiple heart graphics. Police were able to obtain data from the phone before it was turned off hours after the shooting, the complaint said.
Also according to the complaint:
On Friday, the day after the shooting that authorities called "a violent death," the woman took police to an apartment in Brooklyn Park where they found a vehicle with Illinois plates matching the description of one seen by witnesses leaving the scene. The woman confirmed that the vehicle was the same car she had seen Ox driving two days before the killing.
When Miller entered the LaBelle Park Condos, he was holding a soda bottle, the building's surveillance footage showed. Police recovered a soda bottle at the crime scene and laboratory tests matched finger prints found on the bottle with those of Miller, who has a criminal history in Illinois. Police showed one of Ox's old booking photos to the woman, who identified him as the suspect.
