Family and friends of Avontae King were back in the same Dakota County courtroom Thursday where the man who fatally shot him in 2023 was sentenced just a year ago.
This time it was for the shooter’s accomplice, Tre Manuel Iglesias, who in July pleaded guilty to his role in King’s killing outside his South St. Paul home — a murder that was over stolen marijuana and that one of King’s two young children witnessed through a window.
Andrew Michael Fisher and Tre Manuel Iglesias (Courtesy of the Dakota County sheriff’s office)
They spoke about how King was a loving father to his two sons and of the anguish and heartache they all experience every day because of Iglesias and Andrew Michael Fisher, who fired a lone shot, hitting the 26-year-old in the chest.
King may have taken his last breath, “but you didn’t take mine,” Bobbi Martin, King’s former girlfriend and the mother of his children, said in her victim impact statement. “And I’ll always be here speaking on his behalf for the person that’s no longer with us. A role I wish I didn’t have to take on.”
Judge Stacey Sorensen Green sentenced Iglesias to 12½ years in prison for second-degree aiding and abetting unintentional murder. Iglesias, 24, of St. Paul, will receive credit for 665 days already served in custody.
The sentence was the maximum allowed under Iglesias’ plea agreement with prosecution.
King went outside to go after Fisher, who had grabbed a bag of marijuana off King’s table and ran out of the home. Fisher turned around and fired once, hitting King in the chest. Fisher and Iglesias sped away.
Assistant Dakota County Attorney Caitlyn Prokopowicz said in court Thursday that the evidence showed Iglesias set up what was to be a marijuana purchase from King and that Iglesias brought a gun with him.
“Your Honor, Mr. Iglesias was the driver who drove away and left Mr. King to die in front of his 4-year-old child,” Prokopowicz said.
Fisher, 21, of Cambridge, Minn., was sentenced to just shy of 13 years in prison in August 2024 after pleading guilty to the same charge. He reached a plea deal after the prosecution offered the length of his prison term.
Neighbor witnessed shooting
According to court documents, Fisher and Iglesias went to King’s home in the 400 block of Third Avenue South on Nov. 24, 2023. After Fisher grabbed the marijuana, he and Iglesias ran. King was close behind. Fisher, while standing on the sidewalk, turned and shot King, and they fled the scene in Iglesias’ vehicle.
A neighbor told police it was just before 5 p.m. when he heard someone outside yell, “shoot him,” so he ran to his front window and saw three people moving quickly down the street. He said as the two men moved past a car parked in the street, one of them turned around and shot King, who fell to the ground and rolled in front of the car.
The neighbor said the two men, who were wearing dark-colored hoodies, got into an older, black Chevrolet sedan. He called 911 and provided aid to King, who was lying in the street. He was unarmed.
Avontae Troy King, 26, was fatally shot outside his South St. Paul home Nov. 24, 2023. (Courtesy of Bobbi Martin)
King did not have a pulse when police arrived on scene. He was pronounced dead at Regions Hospital in St. Paul.
Later that night, Iglesias reported to law enforcement that he was there during the shooting.
Iglesias told investigators that Fisher had been staying on his couch for the last week. He said Fisher asked him for a ride and that they went to the South St. Paul home. He said Fisher, while standing on the sidewalk near the grassy part of the curb, shot King. Iglesias said he drove the car from the scene, according to the charges.
‘Robbed’ of fatherhood
King was kind, loving, selfless and humble, said his mother and stepfather, Tanasha and Antone Beale, in a victim impact statement read in court by Prokopowicz.
King, the oldest brother to his three siblings, “was special and had a gift to make you feel good whenever he came around you. You just felt better because of his presence,” the statement said.
To Fisher and Inglesias, they said, ‘How dare you! How dare you take the life of our son from us! Who or what gave you the right to do so? Not only did you steal our son from us, you also stole a father from his children. … You ought to be ashamed of yourself for the crimes you committed.”
King’s aunt Monique King recalled how whenever he would call or see her, he would say, “Hello, my lady” and that it made her feel special.
“Then come to find out, he would address his mother and grandmother the same way,” his aunt said in her victim impact statement, which was read by the prosecutor. “But looking at it, it just showed his respect and character for the women he loved in his life and how he would make us feel so special and loved.”
Martin, the mother of his children, Giovanni and Leonato, now 5 and 3 years old, said he always wanted to have his own family. His kids “gave him hope and changed our lives around, she said. “He prayed for a reason to live, to be a dad, to feel joy. And now he was robbed of the true experience that comes with fatherhood.”
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