A St. Paul man was sentenced to 15 years in prison Wednesday for fatally shooting a man in the head outside a University Avenue bar in 2019.

Devante Lattrele Jennings, 29, pleaded guilty in May to the murder of 33-year-old Michael Gray of St. Paul at the now-closed Johnny Baby’s at University Avenue and Chatsworth Street. Jennings was charged in April 2023 while incarcerated on an earlier firearms conviction out of Ramsey County.

Devante Lattrele Jennings (Courtesy of the Minnesota Department of Corrections)

According to the criminal complaint, St. Paul police responded to reports of a shooting outside Johnny Baby’s about 2 a.m. on May 4, 2019, where they found Gray lying in the parking lot with gunshot wounds to the back of his head and an arm. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police recovered four bullet casings, all fired from the same gun.

A witness told police that Gray had been by a silver sedan that was occupied by three people. The witness said it looked like Gray was trying to get into the rear passenger side seat when the front passenger leaned out of the car and shot him.

Investigators learned a Kia sedan with Wisconsin license plates was at the scene when the shooting occurred and traced it to a man identified in court documents by the initials TC, who knew the car’s owner. They also found a cigarette butt in the vehicle with Jennings’ DNA on it.

Jennings initially told investigators in July 2019 he had bought drugs from TC months earlier and smoked a cigarette in the front seat, but denied being at Johnny Baby’s at the time of the shooting.

Surveillance footage

Surveillance footage outside Johnny Baby’s captured the shooting.

Jennings, TC and a third man arrived at the bar in the Kia sedan about 1:30 a.m. The third man, identified in court documents as WB, got out of the car and walked into the bar, bumping into Gray on his way inside, the complaint says.

A family photo of Michael Gray. (Mara H. Gottfried / Pioneer Press)

WB walked back out to the parking lot about 1:42 a.m. and remained there with Jennings and TC until about 2 a.m., when the three men got back into the Kia. Gray approached the Kia and appeared to speak with Jennings, who was in the front passenger seat, before backing away and walking toward the back of the car. Jennings then leaned out of the front passenger window and shot Gray.

WB was killed in September 2019 near the St. Paul Saloon by friends of Gray, the complaint says.

In March 2023, while interviewing Jennings at the Moose Lake prison, investigators showed him still frames from Johnny Baby’s surveillance footage. They told Jennings they had identified him as the person in the footage.

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“Jennings looked at the photos and sighed,” the complaint says. “Jennings did not deny he was the person in the photos. Jennings then said he would wait to talk to the investigator at the Ramsey County jail with an attorney.”

Jennings, whose first name is also spelled Devonte in court records, was convicted of second-degree unintentional murder while committing a felony. In exchange for his guilty plea, prosecutors agreed to dismiss a second-degree intentional murder charge at sentencing.

Johnny Baby’s, which had been the site of several shootings in recent years, closed in March 2020 and was renovated into a retail establishment.

The St. Paul City Council will revisit the proposed rezoning of a 1.5-mile swathe of Grand Avenue on Aug. 7, following three significant amendments adopted Wednesday at the urging of Council Member Rebecca Noecker.

Following two years of study, a proposal that recently won the support of the St. Paul Planning Commission would allow new development within the East Grand Avenue Overlay District up to 40 feet in height, or larger with tiered step-backs after 40 vertical feet. The refashioned overlay district would eliminate a current 30-foot height limit, among other changes intended to invite more real estate development in the corridor.

The three amendments introduced Wednesday, each of them authored by Noecker, who represents downtown, alter the step-back requirements in the rear so they match the front façade at 40 feet, instead of requiring them at 30 vertical feet.

Another amendment limits the maximum step-back to 10 feet in total, instead of requiring a one-to-one step-back that would create what Noecker described as a “wedding cake,” or tiered approach, every 10 vertical feet.

Her third amendment eliminates an exemption within 15 feet of building corners, which would have otherwise have allowed the creation of “Rapunzel towers,” she said.

Noecker said her goal was to “allow development to happen on Grand that we desperately need … but also to preserve what makes the avenue feel special” without forcing developers and city staff to variance requests that are “costly, time consuming and create a lot of headache and work.”

Council President Mitra Jalali agreed. “I’m supportive of this amendment and I think it builds on (the intent) … to streamline the process to have development come to Grand Avenue,” she said.

Noecker expects the council to host a final vote on the rezoned overlay district on Aug. 7. The amendments were adopted 6-0, with Council Member Nelsie Yang absent on maternity leave.

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The recent flooding of the St. Croix River has meant a stressful few weeks for the organizers of Lumberjack Days, which will be held Friday through Sunday in downtown Stillwater.

High water means that the popular annual summer music festival will move to South Lowell Park, south of the Stillwater Lift Bridge. When flooding isn’t an issue, the festival is held north of the bridge.

“Everything north of the park is still under water, and the stuff that isn’t under water is just really muddy, so we’re not able to use all of that area,” said Brian Asmus, an Afton resident who is leading a new group of festival organizers called LJD Events. “We had to change our layout a lot to accommodate for a much smaller land space.”

An updated map for Stillwater Lumberjack Days was released on Wednesday, July 17, 2024. Event organizers had to move events around as parts of Lowell Park in downtown Stillwater are not yet ready after recent flooding of the St. Croix River. (Courtesy of Lumberjack Days)

The high water also forced the cancellation of the 2024 Minnesota Wakesurf Championship — where riders surf a boat’s wake, rather than being pulled — which was set to be held for the first time in Stillwater.

“It is with heavy hearts that we announce the cancellation of the on-water wakesurf competition for this season,” organizer Jeremy Wahlberg wrote in a post on the Minnesota Wakesurf Championship’s Facebook page. “Unprecedented flooding this late in the season in Minnesota has created a situation that, unfortunately, will not be resolved in time to hold a world-class competition.”

Among the issues: the Washington County Sheriff’s Office Water Patrol unit couldn’t issue a permit until the river level was below the no-wake threshold, and the watershed district has raised concerns about shoreline conditions due to the prolonged flooding, according to Wahlberg.

A kids’ obstacle course and bingo also had to be cut because of the change in location, Asmus said. “We just don’t have the space for it anymore because we had to condense and cut down our tent sizes,” he said.

But other festival favorites will be back, including the Lumberjack Days Derby car race, the parade, lumberjack demonstrations, medallion hunt, games, rides, log rolling, a pancake breakfast, BMX bicycle jumping and yoga, Asmus said.

Musical lineup

This weekend’s music lineup is heavy on country-leaning singer/songwriters and a few national acts with record deals, including Love and Theft (6:30 p.m. Friday, 7:30 p.m. Saturday), Jerrod Niemann (7:45 p.m. Friday), Craig Campbell (8:45 p.m. Saturday).

Local Prince tribute band Chase and Ovation closes out Friday with a performance at 9:15 p.m., while country artist Canaan Smith is the Saturday headliner, taking the stage at 10 p.m.

Smith is known for his song “Love You Like That,” which hit No. 1 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart.

Some of Smith’s fans called Mayor Ted Kozlowski on Wednesday morning to confirm that the country star was headlining Lumberjack Days, he said.

“They were basically screaming over the phone because they were excited that he was coming to Stillwater,” Kozlowski said. “They apparently saw on his Spotify channel that he was playing here on Saturday. They couldn’t believe it was a free show, so they wanted to call the mayor to confirm.”

Robin Anthony, the executive director of the Greater Stillwater Chamber of Commerce, said the musical lineup this year is “epic.”

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“I’m a country freak and a Nashville girl, so I’m very excited about this new direction — bringing new country here to the Valley,” she said. “This is just the beginning of future enhancements of this event which we are very excited about.”

Asmus, who grew up in Stillwater, is part of Minneapolis-based After Midnight Group, the group that owns Hotel Crosby and Matchstick Restaurant & Spirits in downtown Stillwater. He also is part owner of Brian’s Bar in downtown Stillwater.

Asmus, 53, said his country-music connections came from his Cowboy Jack’s days; After Midnight Group owned the five Cowboy Jack’s locations until earlier this year when they were purchased by Jeff Crivello’s Ciao Hospitality Group.

“We have a lot of direct involvement with country music, and we’ve just got a lot of contacts in that genre,” he said. “It’s kind of fitting for the area, and it works. It works really well. We were able to get these great, super-talented artists.”

Frank E. is back

Crews in Stillwater have been busy getting the Frank E. barge restored in time for Lumberjack Days. The barge will serve as the “floating stage” for the musical acts performing in the festival, which runs Friday, July 19, 2024, through Sunday, July 21, 2024, in downtown Stillwater. The last time the Frank E. was used for Lumberjack Days was in 2010 when Chicago was the headliner. (Courtesy of Dave Junker)

The highlight of the festival for some might be the return of the original floating stage — a 30-by-60-foot barge named the Frank E.

City crews recently restored the barge and painted it brown to make its re-appearance at Lumberjack Days, said Stillwater City Council member Dave Junker. “It’s looking fantastic,” Junker said.

Frank E. last appeared at Lumberjack Days 2010. The headliner that year was Chicago, Junker said.

“Fourteen years later, it’s now returning,” he said. “Brian wanted to bring it back, and so did the city. It is so unique to perform on a floating stage. It’s a game-changer.”

The “floating stage” is a selling point when it comes to attracting talent, Anthony said. “These bands are really pumped about playing on this floating stage,” she said. “It’s really different. It sets Stillwater apart.”

Said Kozlowski: “It’s always been magical, and I think the artists love it as well. Where’s a better place to play than on the St. Croix River?”

Asmus and LJD Events signed a one-year contract with the city to take over Lumberjack Days after The Locals, the group of volunteers who revived Lumberjack Days and produced eight summer festivals in downtown Stillwater over the past 10 years, announced they were stepping down.

“I thought it was something that’s got a long tradition, a long history of being done, and it would have been sad to not see it go off,” he said. “It’s just a cool thing for downtown Stillwater, I think, and it’s got room to grow a little bit.”

Lumberjack Days

Lumberjack Days will be held Friday-Sunday in downtown Stillwater.

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Live music will be performed throughout the festival; headliners include Chase and Ovation on Friday night and Canaan Smith on Saturday night.

Other highlights include the Ice Cream Social, 5 p.m. Thursday at the Washington County Historic Courthouse; Lumberjack Days Derby, 2 p.m. Friday down the Second Street Hill near Pioneer Park; and lumberjack demonstrations, medallion hunt, games, rides, log rolling and a pancake breakfast.

The Lumberjack Days Parade is 11 a.m. Sunday; retiring Washington County Commissioner Gary Kriesel will be the grand marshal.

For more information, go to lumberjackdays.com.

The city of St Paul will be holding an emergency preparedness exercise at CHS Field on July 18.

The 55th Civil Support Team, St. Paul Fire’s Hazardous Material Response Team, State Fire Marshal’s office and advanced CBRNE unit will be conducting exercises that strengthen their abilities to better prepare for real world emergencies, according to St. Paul’s fire department.

The exercise will begin at 8 a.m. and conclude at 5 p.m. Responders will be establishing operations, deploying chemical assessment teams, conducting interagency coordination and evaluating emergency preparedness.

Due to the large presence of emergency responders the event may draw questions from the community, but there is no need for concern, said fire officials.

Staging will be on Broadway Street between the St. Paul Farmers Market and main gate to CHS Field. Roads in the area will remain open, but residents should expect some traffic congestion or restrictions.

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