A 15-year-old Fridley boy waived certification to adult court Wednesday and pleaded guilty in the October fatal shooting of a 28-year-old man in St. Paul’s North End neighborhood.
The Ramsey County attorney’s office originally charged Nehemiah D. Robinson Bowes by juvenile petition in the Oct. 12 death of Riccardo Anthony Fleming, who was shot 11 times at Woodbridge Street and Wheelock Parkway.
Riccardo Fleming (Courtesy of the family)
Because Bowes was 15 at the time of the killing, state law prevented the attorney’s office from providing information about the case due to his age. Bowes was arrested in November at Fridley High School, St. Paul police said at the time, without naming him.
Fleming was visiting his father’s side of the family in St. Paul and his mother, Moneke Thomas, told the Pioneer Press in December she didn’t know why he was shot.
“I would like my son to be remembered as a loving person with a good heart. He was so funny and outgoing, and the life of the party,” said Thomas, adding that her son loved dogs and recording music. “He didn’t deserve this. … I’m lost, I’m numb.”
Fleming lived in Robbinsdale for the first part of his life and then moved with his family to Council Bluffs, Iowa. He later lived in Fremont and Lincoln, Neb.
Bowes pleaded guilty to the sole count of second-degree intentional murder. A plea agreement calls for Bowes to receive between 16½ and 21¾ years in prison. He remains jailed in lieu of $2.5 million bail ahead of his Sept. 5 sentencing.
No tension
Police responded to multiple reports of shots fired about 9:50 p.m. and found Fleming lying in the street with multiple gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at Regions Hospital.
Investigators recovered three spent 9mm casings in the road on Woodbridge Street and eight more in the grass near an apartment building sign.
An autopsy showed Bowes had 11 gunshot wounds and that he died of blood loss.
Video surveillance showed Fleming and three other males lingering around a Volvo in an apartment building parking lot earlier in the day. At about 9:45 p.m., one male is seen running back to the parking lot, with others soon following.
Police identified the driver of the Volvo as a 31-year-old man who lived at the apartment. The man, identified in the complaint as J.C., told police in an Oct. 30 interview that he was approached in his parking lot by his friend, R.W., who was with a younger male and Fleming.
J.C. said they hung out and drank vodka and other liquor. He said the “vibe” between everyone was normal throughout the day as they drank and smoked together.
J.C. said that Fleming and the younger male walked up Wheelock Parkway. He said as he walked around the building, he heard gunshots and looked back and saw the younger guy with a gun.
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J.C. said that R.W. messaged him a couple of days later and apologized for putting him in danger and said something like, “I can’t have that little boy around me no more,” according to the complaint. R.W. said the younger male was “my uncle’s son.”
R.W., who lived at an adjacent apartment building, told police in an Oct. 31 interview that he and J.C. had nothing to do with the shooting. He said they were hanging out in the parking lot when Fleming approached them and said he made music. He said they all hung out and he thought Fleming was a nice guy, the complaint says.
R.W. told police that he later called someone to buy marijuana. As he was walking outside while on the phone, he heard gunshots and saw Bowes clutching a gun and running. He said he didn’t know why Bowes shot Fleming, that he had not noticed any tension between them.
R.W. told police that Bowes went to his apartment with the gun after the shooting and that the teen then threw it behind a nearby house, the complaint says.
Stole his father’s gun
Police discovered that two days after the shooting Bowes’ father reported to Fridley police that his 9mm pistol had been stolen out of his gun safe. He said he realized it was missing the day he reported the theft, and that his 15-year-old son was the only person who lived with him.
St. Paul police executed a search warrant at the Fridley home on Nov. 6. Officers recovered a black Nike sweatshirt, which video from a Holiday store the morning of the killing showed the teen had been wearing, according to the complaint.
Police interviewed Bowes on Nov. 11. He said that in late September, around his 15th birthday, he was talking with R.W. about whether there were guns in Bowes’ home. Bowes told him they were in one of the safes. Bowes said R.W. then told him how to open one of the safes and that he saw a gun.
Bowes said he got mad at his parents one day in late September and called R.W., who told him to grab everything in the safe and come over, the complaint says. Bowes said he grabbed some money, pills and a gun and went to R.W.’s apartment. He said he gave the pills and gun to R.W., who put the gun in a closet.
Bowes said he went over to R.W.’s apartment to hang out on Oct. 12, the day of the killing. After all four were hanging out, Bowes said, R.W. told him that Fleming “gotta go,” the complaint says.
Bowes said that when Fleming exited the bathroom, R.W. pointed toward the closet. Bowes said Fleming asked why R.W. pointed at the closet and asked if there was a gun in there. Bowes said he told Fleming there was and that Fleming then said that he was a grown man and could get to that gun faster than Bowes. Fleming also said that R.W. shouldn’t put Bowes in that predicament, the complaint says.
Bowes said J.C. and R.W. left the apartment and came back with crushed-up white powder that they initially said was Tylenol. He said he snorted the powder and instantly felt mad and confused.
Bowes said Fleming asked R.W. if they had any “plays,” which he took as meaning a robbery, and R.W. stated, “for sure” and began calling people, the complaint says. R.W. then said that he set something up.
Bowes told police that he and Fleming walked to where they were going to meet the guys to rob. Bowes had the gun. When they got to the area where the robbery was supposed to take place, no one was there. Bowes said Fleming told him that R.W. was a “snake.”
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They then saw J.C. and R.W. by the apartment building. Bowes said R.W. gave him a look. Bowes said he then pulled out the gun and shot Fleming, the complaint says.
Bowes said he ran back to R.W., who told him to come with him and to stop running. They went back to R.W.’s apartment and R.W. gave him a bag to put the gun in. R.W. told Bowes to hide the gun outside, which he did. R.W. told him to take a shower and that R.W. sprayed him down with soap because he didn’t have bleach.
Bowes said R.W. told him the next day to get rid of the gun and that he took an Uber to his dad’s house and hid the gun under some wooden stairs near a dog park.
On Nov. 11, St. Paul police officers searched the location described by Bowes and found the gun in a green duffel bag. Court records show that Bowes has no prior criminal cases.
Ramsey County Attorney’s Office spokesman Dennis Gerhardstein said Thursday that no additional cases have been presented for charging consideration.
Mara H. Gottfried contributed to this report.
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