Man charged after 4-year-old girl shot in the back of the head in St. Paul

ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - A 25-year-old man is charged with assault in connection to a shooting that left a 4-year-old girl with a gunshot wound in the back of the head earlier this month in St. Paul. The girl suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury as a result.

Isaac Alonzo Cryer is charged with second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon after two people were injured in the shooting.

According to the criminal complaint, at about 6:30 p.m. Sept. 1, police responded to reports of shots fired at 384 Maria Avenue. When they arrived on scene, officers met with a man in a tan Ford Explorer. His 4-year-old daughter was in the back seat, bleeding from a wound on the back of her head. She was in and out of consciousness and was brought to the hospital.

At the hospital, the father told police his sister lived at the home on Maria Avenue and that she had been in a dispute with her roommate. He said he and his daughter went to help his sister move out and, when he arrived, multiple people were fighting at the home, including the roommate's aunt and the aunt's son, Isaac Alonzo Cryer.

The father said that during the fight, Cryer threatened to kill him. He said he noticed that Cryer had a gun, so he drove away. He said Cryer followed him and shot at his car, injuring his daughter in the back seat.

Officers observed that the rear window of the man's car had been shattered, and there was blood in the second-row passenger seat, where the girl had been.

At the scene, officers met with a woman who suffered a non-life threatening gunshot wound to her forearm. She said she had been shot by Cryer. A third witness also identified Cryer as the shooter.

According to the complaint, several days later, Cryer's mother said that the girl's father had threatened her and other family members earlier in the day on Sept. 1. She said that the man was aggressive when he arrived at the home on Maria Avenue and that the other woman injured in the shooting was armed with a baseball bat.

She also said that Cryer "clenched his fist as if he was armed" in an attempt to protect her from the woman with the bat, but he did not have a gun. She said that, rather, it was the girl's father who shot at Cryer, who did not shoot back.

Cryer told police he went to the home out of concern for the safety of his mother and cousin, and that he "pump-faked" in order to back people up. He said he heard gunfire and left. He said he didn't know how the girl was shot.

He is charged with one count of Second Degree Assault - Dangerous Weapon-Substantial Bodily Harm and four counts of Second Degree Assault - Dangerous Weapon.