A newly released murder charge cites no motive in the shooting death of a 22-year-old man 1½ years ago outside a Brooklyn Park market where numerous children huddled in fear inside.
With the recent arrest of suspected gunman Benjamin P. Richardson III, 25, more than 1,000 miles from the killing scene, a Hennepin County judge on Wednesday unsealed the criminal complaint, which details what happened on June 22, 2021, outside the Nice Family African Market but offers no indication of a motive for the killing.
Richardson was captured in a home in a suburb of Lynchburg, Va., and jailed on Jan. 17. Several guns and ammunition were also seized, according to law enforcement.
Officials intend to seek his extradition to Minnesota, where he is charged with second-degree intentional murder in connection with the killing of 22-year-old Alameen Allah Shabazz.
Shabazz, of Robbinsdale, was walking into the market in the 7400 block of Regent Avenue N. when Richardson opened fire while sitting in an SUV, police said.
Police rushed to the market and located five girls ages 5 to 12 "hiding in the bathroom and [needing] a lot of coaxing before they would leave," the criminal complaint read.
Witnesses told police that Shabazz got into his own vehicle, which was being driven by his girlfriend. He was taken to North Memorial Health in Robbinsdale, where he died less than an hour later, the complaint continued.
The girlfriend told police that she and Shabazz stopped at the market after being at a hospital to look in on their prematurely born 11-day-old son, according to the complaint.
The couple "did not have any altercations on the way to the store, and she did not hear the shooter confront [Shabazz] prior to the shooting," the charging document read.
Brooklyn Park police notified law enforcement in Bedford County, Va., that Richardson was possibly at an apartment complex in Forest, 10 miles from Lynchburg. Investigators and a tactical response team confirmed he was at the complex and arrested him.
Richardson's criminal history includes a conviction in Hennepin County in 2019 for domestic assault. He completed two years of probation in connection with the assault about eight weeks before the shooting, court records indicate.
