A second man has been charged in the robbery and fatal shooting of a 22-year-old St. Paul man walking home from work late last year.
Detwan C. Allen, 18, was charged Friday in Ramsey County District Court with second-degree intentional murder in connection with the death of Alex Becker, who was shot multiple times shortly before midnight on Dec. 27 in an alley behind his home in the 500 block of W. Lawson Avenue.
Becker's family said he was robbed of his cellphone and cash before being killed in what was the city's record 40th and final homicide of 2022.
Allen, of St. Paul, remains jailed in lieu of $1 million bail ahead of a March 2 court appearance. A message was left with his attorney seeking a response to the allegations.
Alleged accomplice Arteze O. Kinerd, 20, of Minneapolis, was charged with the same count on Jan. 5 and is being held in lieu of $2 million bail. He's due back in court on March 22.
According to the charges against both men:
Police determined that Becker had left work at 11:15 p.m. and began walking home. At 11:51 p.m., surveillance video showed a black car pass him. Several seconds later, men in distinct clothing were captured on the video running down the alley Becker had just entered, and surveillance also recorded eight gunshots before two of the men ran away.
On Jan. 3, police found the car, a stolen Toyota Camry, in north Minneapolis, three blocks from an apartment in the 2500 block of N. Penn Avenue where a cellphone taken from a recent robbery had pinged. There, police identified Kinerd as being in an apartment surveillance video about the time of the ping.
Police then learned that three men wearing clothes that matched those from the night of Becker's killing left the Penn Avenue apartment at 10:14 p.m. that night and returned around 12:27 a.m. Allen was one of those men.
Investigators determined that Allen's DNA was on the steering wheel inside the Camry that drove past Becker.
On Jan. 3, police spotted Kinerd in a gas station near the Penn Avenue apartment. He was arrested, and a handgun was found on a shelf. Testing confirmed the gun was the weapon used to shoot Becker.
