One of the two accused shooters charged in connection with last month’s killing of a 19-year-old St. Paul man outside a party bus in Inver Grove Heights is still at large.
The whereabouts of Trashaun Nij Morris, 17, is unknown despite a national arrest warrant and manhunt that involves local, state and federal agencies as well as law enforcement from outside Minnesota, said Paul Schnell, Inver Grove Heights police chief.
Morris and Daunte Maurice Martin, 16, of St. Paul, were charged March 28 with first-degree riot and second-degree assault in the March 24 killing of Billy Robles, which happened in the parking lot of AMC Showplace 16 during a fight between two groups of party bus passengers.
Morris, whose last known address was at his mother’s house on St. Paul’s West Side, has not been in contact with authorities since he fled the scene of the shooting, Schnell said.
The search for Morris has been complicated, Schnell said, because of “claims of affiliation with different kinds of gang cliques. But this is not completely atypical, and we have all the confidence that we’ll find him.”
Because of the alleged gang ties, some people may not be cooperating fully out of loyalty, while others may not want to talk out of fear, Schnell said.
“What we will also look at is who aided him in evading detention,” he said. “And we would pursue criminal charges against who we find is aiding his evasion of this warrant, because there’s no doubt he knows he’s wanted; his family members know he’s wanted.”
Martin, who has connections to St. Paul and Hopkins, remains in custody at the Dakota County Juvenile Services Center in Hastings. He was arrested March 26 after an interview with investigators.
Schnell said the investigation continues in order to determine who fired the fatal shot that killed Robles, an aspiring rapper from St. Paul’s West Side who had attended Humboldt High School.
Investigators have recovered guns and are trying to determine whether they are connected to the shooting, Schnell said.
Witnesses identified Martin and Morris in photo lineups as the shooters, according to a criminal complaint.
Martin and Morris were charged as juveniles in Dakota County District Court; however, motions have been filed to prosecute them as adults. Murder charges are possible, according to the Dakota County attorney’s office.
The investigation is just beginning into underage drinking on the party bus and it will include who provided the alcohol and who may have allowed it, Schnell said.
“It still remains secondary to the homicide, obviously, but nonetheless those things were certainly contributing factors,” he said. “And there is law that governs that and there needs to be some level of accountability.”