E’Shaun Maurice Funches said during his presentence investigation that his killing of 30-year-old Alfonzo Avery Armstead in St. Paul was “about two men’s egos and pride,” his attorney told the court Thursday.
Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Ryan Flynn said it is more than an “ego-based decision.”
“It is an impulsive ego decision that was empowered with the abilities of a gun,” Flynn said. “A few seconds and the defendant stole away a life. And he also stole from the victim’s family and his loved ones.”
Judge Laura Nelson went on to sentence Funches to 19½ years in prison, a term that was agreed upon as part of a plea agreement he reached with the prosecution in the daytime shooting of Armstead outside Sunrise Grocery and Tobacco on University Avenue on Dec. 13, 2023.
Funches, 24, of St. Paul, pleaded guilty in February to second-degree unintentional murder and possession of a firearm by an ineligible person. A charge of second-degree murder with intent was dismissed at sentencing.
Funches was arrested shortly after running away from the shooting and denied being the shooter. However, his friend and his friend’s girlfriend who had picked him up for a ride — as well as video surveillance footage — told a different story, according to the criminal complaint, which didn’t offer a motive in the case.
Funches got out of a Nissan Rogue around 2:45 p.m. and quickly walked toward Armstead, who was standing outside the store. His back was turned to Funches, who opened fire on him.
Armstead, who had gunshot wounds to his back, left leg and abdomen, died at Regions Hospital.
“What possesses a man to play God and take a life that he didn’t give is beyond us,” Armstead’s sister and brother said in a victim impact statement read in court by the prosecutor. “The hurt and pain will never go away. We will never get over this ordeal.”
Less than a month before the killing, Funches completed a three-year probation term in a 2019 aggravated robbery case out of Minneapolis.
He asked his friend for a ride
The complaint says a police officer in an unmarked squad heard the call about the shooting and saw Funches walking off a path wearing black pants and carrying black clothes draped over his arm. The officer watched Funches try to discard items in a dumpster in a church parking lot on Central Avenue. Funches was unable to open the dumpster, so he walked away carrying the items.
The officer stopped Funches, who dropped the clothes. He tried to walk away, but was arrested when more officers arrived.
E’Shaun Maurice Funches (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)
Funches was trying to discard a black pair of pants and a black jacket that matched the one worn by the shooter. His shoes also matched those worn by the shooter.
A canine tracked from the shooting area south in the direction the shooter ran. Officers found a Taurus handgun in a plastic bag hidden beneath a pile of leaves on the side of a path near Central and Western avenues. Funches was arrested coming from the direction where the gun was found.
Some of the headstamps on the bullets in the magazine matched the headstamps on the three 9mm casings found at the murder scene.
Armstead’s girlfriend went to the shooting scene and told police that he recently was jumped by three men in front of the business, according to the complaint, which offers no further details on the incident.
Funches agreed to speak to investigators. He said he found the clothes he was arrested carrying and that he was trying to throw away candy wrappers. He denied he had anything to do with the killing before eventually asking for an attorney.
The Rogue’s owner, who was in the front passenger seat during the shooting, said her boyfriend was driving and that they had picked Funches up at a White Castle near Rice Street. Funches had asked for a ride. She said they drove over to Arundel Street near University Avenue. Funches got out of her car and shot the man.
Officers spoke to her boyfriend, who confirmed her story. “The man was distraught that Funches would put him and his girlfriend in that situation,” the complaint says.
He said Funches has pulled a gun on him in the past, so he kept Funches at a distance.
In his previous case, Funches was charged with robbing a man of his cellphone, showing a handgun in his waistband, as the man left a downtown Minneapolis bar. He was sentenced to two months in the Hennepin County workhouse and three years’ probation, which he completed in November 2023.
He didn’t address the court
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When Funches was led into the courtroom by deputies for sentencing, he smiled and waved to his mother, his toddler daughter and girlfriend. He made a shape of a heart with his hands.
He declined to address the court.
Earlier, his attorney, assistant public defender Lauri Traub, noted how he apologized to his victim’s family in his presentence investigation.
Traub read from the investigation: “The defendant stated, ‘I apologize, although I know no apology can mend or make up for the damage I caused you. Our emotions, egos and pride got the best of both of us, and ended up in a situation that neither of us planned to be in.’ ”
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