Seven charged in St. Paul skyway, light rail attacks
Seven alleged members of a "notorious and active" St. Paul gang have been charged with attacks in the city's skyway and at a downtown light rail station in January.
Prosecutors say the Jan. 19 assaults were committed by members of the Gutter Block Goon gang. Seven men — Donald Maurice McCormick, 19; Keanu Antwain Brown, 19; Rodney Lloyd Johnson, 22; Devon Walter Lee Johnson, 20; Jesse Jamoni Moore, 22; Ramon Devon Tolbert, 19; and Michael James Jackson, 28 — each face two counts of committing a crime for the benefit of a gang.
According to the criminal complaints, the first assault occurred in the skyway at Town Square on Minnesota Street at 6 p.m.
A 22-year-old man and his 24-year-old co-worker were play fighting in the skyway when they were approached by the seven suspects, who asked the 24-year-old if he wanted them to beat up the other man. He declined and said the two were friends.
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One of the suspects punched the 24-year-old and knocked him unconscious. A witness told police a suspect then kicked the victim in the head as he lay on the ground. The suspects also assaulted another 57-year-old who was with the two friends, knocking him down twice and then stepping on his arm, breaking it.
The suspects fled toward the Central Station light rail platform. Police responding to calls of a large fight at the platform minutes later found another man who'd been assaulted after he tried to intervene as the suspects beat yet another man. The victim told police the suspects had fled on the train.
An officer with the St. Paul Police Department's gang unit was able to identify some of the suspects from surveillance video taken in the skyway and on the light rail train.
Rodney Johnson, Brown and McCormick will make their first court appearances at the Ramsey County Law Enforcement Center on Tuesday. The other four men have been charged via warrant and were not in custody.
The high-profile assaults and a string of other incidents in downtown spurred St. Paul police to step up patrols in recent months.