Man Charged With Shooting Man, Setting Body On Fire
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A 23-year-old man has been charged in the death of a man whose body was discovered in a burning car Saturday evening.
Police say they were called to a car fire on the 1000 block of Westminster Street at about 6 p.m. and found the body inside when they arrived on scene.
According to the criminal complaint, the 36-year-old victim was found in a vehicle registered to his girlfriend. A medical examiner determined he had been shot in the head.
The complaint says a friend was checking on the victim at a neighborhood gas station because he knew he would be selling people marijuana. He said he saw the victim in the vehicle behind the store, slumped over and with blood on his shoulder.
He said he saw two men get into the car and drive away.
A clerk at the gas station helped investigators find who had purchased $2 worth of gasoline, saying he'd put it into a bleach container. That person was identified as the cousin of Demetrius Ramon Smoot.
Smoot's cousin told investigators that he was in the back seat of the vehicle, and that Smoot had asked him to purchase the gas.
Smoot's cousin said that he wasn't initially aware that the other person in the vehicle, in the front passenger seat, was dead. He said Smoot told him that the victim had a gun and had tried to shoot him.
Smoot's cousin reported watching Smoot pour gasoline on the body and start the car on fire before they both ran away.
The complaint says another person told investigators he had witnessed the murder, saying Smoot claimed the victim owed him money. He says the victim did not have a weapon.
Police said when they found and arrested Smoot, he claimed he hadn't killed anybody and requested a lawyer.
Smoot has been charged with second-degree murder. If convicted, he faces up to 40 years in prison.
