Two men were charged Wednesday in the shooting death on Saturday of a man in Fridley, an incident that stemmed from a drug deal gone bad, court documents said.
Johnny Earl Edwards, 44, of Brooklyn Center, and Bryston Markeis Hill-Turnipseed, 35, are charged in Anoka County District Court with one count each of second-degree murder. They are being held in the Anoka County jail in lieu of $1.5 million and $1 million bail, respectively.
Edwards allegedly was the shooter who killed James Chapman, 54, who had gone to a man's home on Osborne Road in Fridley to sell Hill-Turnipseed some marijuana, according to the criminal complaints.
Chapman was shot once in the upper chest while he, Hill-Turnipseed and Edwards were in a lower-level music room in the home. He was dead when officers arrived.
The documents said the homeowner had invited Chapman to the house to sell marijuana to Hill-Turnipseed. Hill-Turnipseed arrived alone but left briefly and returned with another man — Edwards — who had a black handgun.
Edwards shot Chapman, then the two defendants fled in an SUV.
Investigators tracked Hill-Turnipseed's cellphone and arrested both men at a gas station in Minneapolis, the complaints said.
Edwards has a violent criminal history that includes convictions for first- and second-degree assault in 1999, first-degree criminal sexual assault of a child in 2008, and other lesser crimes, all in Hennepin County. He was sentenced to more than 14 years in prison for criminal sexual assault, with conditional release after 10 years. He was put on supervised release on Nov. 28 of last year. His next court appearance on the murder charge is June 26.
Hill-Turnipseed pleaded guilty to a gross-misdemeanor charge of malicious punishment of a child in April and was given a stayed one-year sentence. He also has been convicted of lesser drug and traffic offenses. His next court appearance is June 27.
Pat Pheifer • 612-673-7252
