An argument over a sweatshirt led to a fatal shooting of a teen Saturday in North St. Paul, according to a criminal complaint.
Zay’vion Dontavious Edgerson, 24, of St. Paul, was charged Monday in Ramsey County District Court with second-degree murder in the death of 19-year-old Nehemiah Davis inside an apartment in the 2000 block of Ninth Avenue East. An autopsy showed Davis, of Coon Rapids, was shot in the left cheek.
Edgerson was arrested Saturday and is being held in lieu of $2.5 million bail ahead of initial court hearing on the charges Thursday.
He has a lengthy criminal record and is currently on probation in two counties, court records show.
According to the criminal complaint:
Police were sent to the apartment building about 7 a.m. Saturday on a report of a shooting and found Davis with a gunshot wound to his face. He was not breathing, had no pulse and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Investigators found a spent casing next to his body.
Officers executed a search warrant and found paperwork in the bedroom addressed to Edgerson.
Surveillance video showed Edgerson, Davis and another man arrive at the apartment building about 6:30 a.m. When they were unable to get inside, the man went to another entrance and forced open a door.
About 15 minutes later, the trio entered and exited the apartment building several times. Video then showed Edgerson appear at a door, look outside and walk away.
The man agreed to meet with police and said he was good friends with Davis and that Edgerson was someone they had only recently started hanging out with. He said Edgerson drove the trio to the apartment, where Edgerson rented a bedroom from a woman.
While in the bedroom, the man told police, Edgerson and Davis got into an argument over a sweatshirt. Edgerson hit Davis, and when Davis tried to strike back, Edgerson pulled out a tan handgun from his groin area and shot him.
Officers located Edgerson’s SUV near where he lived with his mother. They recovered a handgun with an extended magazine wrapped in a black shirt and a second handgun with a tan slide and a letterman-style jacket Edgerson was seen on video wearing, the complaint said.
Edgerson was arrested at a neighbor’s residence. Officers recovered a firearm in a room where Edgerson had been sleeping.
In an interview with investigators, Edgerson did not respond when asked questions about the shooting. He said the recovered firearms belonged to him, the complaint said.
Past offenses
Court records show Edgerson has five prior felony convictions.
In December, he was sentenced to probation in St. Louis County for three years after pleading guilty to felony domestic assault.
In 2023, he was put on probation for five years in Hennepin County after pleading guilty to possessing a firearm by a person adjudicated for a crime of violence and sentenced in Stearns County to one day of probation for possession of a firearm with a scratched-off serial number.
In 2021, he was convicted in Hennepin County of fleeing police in a motor vehicle and threats of violence in Benton County for pointing a gun at another man after an argument.
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