A South St. Paul man has been sentenced to a few years of probation and 90 days within the county workhouse for collaborating in a deadly gun battle outside a St. Paul funeral home, where a family was mourning a relative fatally shot lower than three weeks earlier that month in the town.
Jesus Hernandez, 22, was one in every of 4 men charged with second-degree assault in reference to the Feb. 21, 2022, shooting at Easy Traditions by Bradshaw funeral home on the West Side.
The shooting, which claimed the lifetime of 28-year-old Agustin Martinez of Crystal, happened as mourners were gathered for the funeral for Casanova Carter, 26, who was killed at his West Side home on Feb. 1, 2022.
4 other men were wounded within the funeral home gunfight, and houses and vehicles were struck by bullets.
Murder charges haven’t been filed in Martinez’s death. A spokesperson for the Ramsey County attorney’s office said on the time charges were filed that they were “at the best level possible that we felt might be sustained at trial given the evidence provided to us from law enforcement.”
Hernandez pleaded guilty in March. Ramsey County District Judge Joy Bartscher on Friday gave him a downward departure from state sentencing guidelines, staying a three-year prison term in favor of probation. She sentenced him to 152 days within the county workhouse, with 62 days credit for time already served and the remaining days on electronic home monitoring. His start date is Nov. 14.
Two other men were sentenced to prison last yr. Bryan Lara-Saavedra, a 26-year-old Minneapolis man who police say fired the primary shot, was given a three-year term in June. David Nicholas Garcia, 41, of St. Paul, who shot and wounded Lara-Saavedra, was sentenced to 27 months in prison in March.
Meanwhile, Mario Alberto Vega, 32, of St. Paul, has pleaded not guilty to the charge and is scheduled for a pre-trial hearing Monday.
Fistfight, then shots
Officers were sent to the funeral home at 488 Humboldt Ave. around 11:20 a.m. that day.
Martinez was wounded and lying on a sidewalk. He died at Regions Hospital of a single gunshot wound to his back.
Lara-Saavedra had gunshot wounds to his stomach and right leg. Several other men who were on the funeral home were transported to Regions with gunshot wounds.
Officers recovered bullet casings “everywhere in the area,” the fees read.
Surveillance video shows a fistfight on the sidewalk in front of the funeral home. Martinez was involved within the fight, but he eventually walked away out of camera view.
Lara-Saavedra then pulled out a gun and shot a 36-year-old man within the neck. People scattered when the gun was fired, with some running back to the funeral home and others fleeing in the identical direction as Martinez.
Garcia was seen at the doorway to the funeral home firing quite a few rounds from a handgun within the direction of Martinez. Garcia then went into the funeral home.
Hernandez stood within the boulevard and allegedly fired within the direction that Martinez and others had run. Vega got here out of the funeral home and in addition fired in the identical direction, the fees allege.