Man Charged In NE Minneapolis Killing
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - A 20-year-old Minneapolis man is accused of killing a man after he got off a Metro Transit bus in September.
Jeremiah Elijah Blackwell is charged with second-degree murder in the Sept. 21 shooting death of Eulalio Gonzalez-Sanchez, 36, in Northeast Minneapolis. Police said it was a robbery gone wrong.
Neighbors told WCCO in September that Gonzalez-Sanchez had just gotten off the bus from his girlfriend's house and was walking home.
They said he was well-liked in the neighborhood and worked two jobs.
Gonzalez-Sanchez stepped down from the bus between 6:15 a.m. and 6:24 a.m. and texted his friends that he was almost home.
A minute later, witnesses reported hearing multiple gunshots.
Gonzalez-Sanchez's body was found dead in a Seventh Street parking lot near 22nd Avenue.
Jessica DeWolf said the shooting happened just outside her bedroom window, and called the event surreal.
"His body was laying there, and the two guys--I think they lived in that apartment--they came out when they heard the gunshots, but they couldn't help him," she said.
Cell phone records showed that Blackwell's cell phone was within about 200 yards from the murder scene at 6:09 a.m.
A few weeks later, on Oct. 2, police pulled over a vehicle Blackwell was riding in and seized a a Ruger .40 caliber semi-automatic handgun
The gun was later matched to bullets and shell casings found near Gonzalez-Sanchez's body.
On Oct. 9, Blackwell was charged for a different robbery of a cell phone at gunpoint in Northeast Minneapolis.
If convicted of the murder charge, Blackwell faces up to 40 years behind bars.
