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Chicago Man Pleads Guilty To Murder In April Double Killing

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A 22-year-old Chicago man pleaded guilty Tuesday to two counts of second-degree murder in the April shooting deaths of two men on Minneapolis' north side.

The Hennepin County Attorney's Office said Brian Deshawn Morse made his plea four days after being indicted on first-degree murder charges. Had he been convicted on those charges, he would have faced an automatic sentence of life in prison.

But after pleading guilty to the second-degree murder charges, Morse is expected to spend 55 years behind bars. He is slated to be sentenced on July 13.

"For no obvious reason, Mr. Morse decided to shoot two men who were old enough to be his father and who posed no threat to him," Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said in a statement. "Accordingly, it is appropriate that he, too, will be an old man before he is eligible to be released."

In court on Tuesday, Morse admitted to shooting 47-year-old Odell Frazier and 56-year-old Eddie Pelmore twice each.

A criminal complaint says that Pelmore was planning to sell Morse marijuana on April 8. But for a reason that remains unclear, Morse shot both men as they sat in Frazier's car near 4530 Penn Avenue North, Freeman said.

Morse was arrested after a police officer in the area saw him running from the scene. The officer also saw Morse toss a gun over a fence that tests later showed to be the murder weapon.

Another man arrested after the shooting, 30-year-old Leland Ethridge, has yet to be charged.

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