A man was on drugs and paranoid when he fatally shot a friend he accused of “setting him up” in St. Paul over the weekend, according to a murder charge filed Monday.
A witness reported that Tarik H. Hassan, 32, tried to calm Spencer Curtis McAloney for more than an hour.
The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office charged McAloney, 27, of Rosemount, with intentional murder in the shooting of Hassan and the attempted murder of another man in the Frogtown neighborhood.
Police responded at 1:38 a.m. Sunday to multiple 911 calls reporting shots fired in an apartment on Victoria Street between Minnehaha Avenue and Pierce Butler Route. Officers found Hassan lying on the apartment’s living room floor with multiple gunshot wounds to his torso. A handgun was under him.
St. Paul Fire Department medics pronounced Hassan dead at the scene.
Arrest nearby
Police saw a parked Toyota Camry running nearby and an officer heard a loud noise coming from its direction believed to possibly be a gunshot. Officers ran toward the Toyota, which sped away with its headlights off. The driver sideswiped a parked Cadillac as it fled.
An officer pursued the Toyota for just over a block before it crashed into another parked vehicle on Englewood Avenue, cracking the Toyota’s windshield. The driver, identified as McAloney, matched the description of the shooter that 911 callers had provided, the complaint said.
Officers arrested McAloney, who was bleeding from his mouth, nose and eye. He did not give a statement to police.
Police found suspected drugs in McAloney’s pocket and an empty gun holster on his waistband, according to the complaint. A handgun was visible in the driver’s footwell area. It was missing a magazine and had a tactical flashlight attached to it.
Signs of drugs in apartment
Homicide investigators went to the scene, and saw drug paraphernalia in the apartment including burned tinfoil and scales. Investigators learned the apartment “has been the source of numerous complaints of drug dealing and use,” the complaint said.
Spencer Curtis McAloney (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)
A person who arrived at Hassan’s apartment on Saturday night said there were about 10 people there, including Hassan’s friend, McAloney. Hassan dealt fentanyl, according to the complaint.
When McAloney was acting paranoid, Hassan “tried to reason” with him, “but it didn’t help,” the complaint said of the witness’ report. “… McAloney said people were after him, and he accused (Hassan) of setting him up. (Hassan) continuously reassured McAloney that he was safe and told McAloney to go calm down, but McAloney’s behavior continued to escalate.”
Hassan was in his bedroom when someone knocked and told him, “Your man’s tweaking — he’s got his pole out pointed at us!” The witness didn’t see a gun in Hassan’s hands when he left the bedroom. Hassan tried again to reason with McAloney, the witness heard a “volley” of shots, and people ran away screaming, the complaint said.
Investigators talked to a man who lives in a different apartment in the building. He said he went outside for a cigarette, heard arguing coming from Hassan’s apartment and found four to five people smoking fentanyl in the laundry room. He heard gunshots coming from the building.
A man who matched McAloney’s description left Hassan’s apartment and confronted the man who’d gone out for a cigarette. He asked, “Who are you?” pointed a gun at his chest and pulled the trigger, but nothing happened. The resident escaped back into his apartment and locked the door.
Hassan is jailed and due to make his first court appearance in the case on Tuesday. An attorney wasn’t listed for him in the court file.
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