A 27-year-old woman shot into a crowd and killed a man who tried to break up a fight in St. Paul last weekend, according to charges filed in Ramsey County Wednesday.
At around 5 a.m. Saturday, Denise Chanel White fatally shot 38-year-old Dawahn Darnell Littles in the chest, according to the charges. White was at an after-bar-close party that started at Littles' house and spilled out into the nearby intersection of Lafond Avenue and Dale Street North.
She faces two counts of second-degree murder and is currently being held in the Ramsey County jail. The shooting was one of several in a bloody Twin Cities weekend.
According to the charges, White got into an argument with a car full of women leaving the party. White smashed out one of the windows and shot a small handgun into a crowd of people.
"I'm hit!" shouted Littles, who had been trying to stop the fight, according to Littles' brother, who saw White take off running.
Police found two sets of spent rounds from two different guns and a live round near the scene.
St. Paul police spokesman Steve Linders said police don't think anyone else at the party fired a gun. "My understanding is there was only one shooter," said Linders.
Another witness, not named in the complaint, told police White came to his mom's house crying shortly after the shooting, and that he recognized White as an acquaintance of his sister. He let White into the house and saw she was waving around a gun.
"I shot him. I shot him," she said, according to the complaint, before wiping down the gun with a blanket.
White used the man's phone to make a call and a car came to pick her up.
Meanwhile, doctors pronounced Littles dead at 6 a.m. in the emergency room of Regions Hospital.
Two witnesses picked White out of a lineup, including Littles brother, according to the charges.
The Ramsey County Medical Examiner ruled the death a homicide from a gunshot wound to the chest.
White's criminal history also includes multiple low-level assaults and theft charges. She had her first appearance in court this afternoon, according to court records.
Andy Mannix • 612-673-4036
