Jury Finds Mpls. Man, 35, Guilty In Fatal Drive-By Shooting

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A jury has found a Minneapolis man guilty in connection with a fatal shooting on the city's north side earlier this week.

On Friday afternoon, the Hennepin County District Court jury found Willie B. Brown, Jr. guilty of second-degree murder in the death of 29-year-old Dwayne Hawkins, Jr. He was also convicted of one count of drive-by shooting and one count of second-degree assault.

According to the complaint, Officers responded to a ShotSpotter activation on the 1900 block of Newton Avenue North just after 5 a.m. on April 26, where they found a man with a gunshot wound.

The man was taken to North Memorial, where he later died. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner identified the victim as Hawkins, Jr. The examiner's report said he was shot in the head and neck.

The attorney's office said Brown propositioned a woman at a home on the 2900 block of Sheridan Avenue North. Several men intervened and Brown left, but he returned either late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning to confront the men. Hawkins arrived and broke up the argument, and he and Brown drove away.

While investigating Hawkins' death, police responded to a shooting at the Sheridan Avenue home. The woman told police Brown drove by the house and fired several shots.

While searching the area, police found the vehicle in which Hawkins and Brown left the home. The interior of the was covered in blood. Officers arrested Brown a short time later in the neighborhood. They found two handguns in the area which matched the ammunition found at the scenes of the shootings.

Police also received a tip about a stash of bloody clothes at a car wash. Surveillance video showed Brown dumping clothes inside the car wash in the time between the two shootings.

Brown will be sentenced on December 12 where he could be sentenced up to 386 months – over 32 years – just on the murder charge.