A Minneapolis man is charged with murder in the fatal shooting of another man Saturday.
Angel B. Villalva, 29, was charged Tuesday in Hennepin County District Court with two counts of second-degree murder in the killing of Maricio Mata-Thelen.
Mata-Thelen, 26, of St. Paul, died from a gunshot wound to his neck. He was killed in Crystal.
Authorities allege that Villalva lied and told them that the shooting was accidental when evidence suggested that it was intentional. The motive remains unclear.
According to the complaint: Crystal police were called to a home in the 5500 block of N. Yates Avenue about 9 p.m. and found three men in the home. They were standing over the body of Mata-Thelen, who was lying on the floor dressed in boxer shorts. Villalva was not present.
One of the men told police the shooting was an accident. The three men declined to identify the shooter and gave police false information about their locations in the home when Mata-Thelen was killed.
Mata-Thelen had been shot in the back of his neck. The bullet struck his lung, stomach and colon.
Villalva turned himself into Bloomington police and said he was trying to be "cool" when one of the other men told him the gun appeared jammed, the charges said.
Villalva allegedly told police he banged the gun on the ground and a "wall thing," causing it to fire and strike Mata-Thelen. He also gave police the gun allegedly used in the incident.
Villalva panicked and fled the house, according to the charges.
Evidence at the scene, autopsy results and an intact bullet recovered from Mata-Thelen suggested that the shooting was intentional, the complaint said.
