The Ramsey County attorney's office has declined to charge a man who fatally shot a teenager who allegedly tried to rob him in St. Paul last month.
St. Paul police have said that Lavauntai Broadbent, 16, was killed on July 31 after he brandished a handgun at two people at Shadow Falls Park. The man, whom police have not named, drew his own gun — for which he had a permit to carry — and fired at Broadbent.
The man's actions were legally justified under Minnesota statute 609.065, based on police evidence in the case, the county attorney's office said in a news release Wednesday.
Broadbent's mother, Leeann Broadbent, declined to comment.
The county attorney's office has filed juvenile court petitions against four of Broadbent's alleged accomplices linking the group to the theft of a car that contained two loaded guns, plus the July 31 armed robbery of a man at an East Side bus stop.
In the bus-stop incident, Broadbent allegedly pointed a gun at the man and said, "Empty your pockets" — the same phrase he allegedly used before being fatally shot several hours later.
The bus-stop robbery occurred about 4:50 a.m.
About 10:30 p.m., Broadbent was shot by a man who feared that he and a woman with whom he'd struck up a conversation "were going to be killed," the juvenile court petitions state.
Broadbent fell face down on some bluff rocks, and the man who shot him took off his shirt and applied pressure to the wounds, authorities say.
"I dropped the gun," Broadbent is alleged to have said.
He was pronounced dead a short time later.
Staff writer Anthony Lonetree contributed to this report.
Chao Xiong • 612-270-4708
Twitter: @ChaoStrib
