Metro State lockdown: Man accused of shooting at mom after being thrown out of house

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ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - A man angry after getting thrown out of the house by his mother is accused of firing the shots that caused a lockdown at Metro State University in St. Paul last week.

Shooting near Metro State

The backstory:

Metro State was briefly placed on lockdown after the report of shots fired near the campus on Thursday afternoon.

The lockdown was issued around 12:40 p.m. and lifted around 1:06 p.m.

Police told FOX 9 that a woman reported her 22-year-old son had fired shots at her, hitting her vehicle several times.

Man charged in shooting

What we know:

The 22-year-old man is identified in court documents as Elijah Dontrel Lowe. His listed address is along Bates Avenue, just a couple blocks from the Metro State campus.

As police said on Thursday, the criminal complaint alleges that the mother told police that she and her son had gotten into an argument. Following the fight, she told Lowe to leave the home and not to return. Lowe had gathered his things and left.

However, a short time later, the mother left the home in her SUV and saw Lowe standing in a parking lot off 6th Street East near Metro State. Again, the mother rolled down her window and told Lowe not to return home. Lowe became enraged, the complaint alleges, and pulled out a gun and fired shots.

The mother drove from the scene in her bullet-damaged SUV, then walked over to speak with police at the scene.

Dig deeper:

Lowe faces charges of attempted murder and possession of a machine gun. Officers say they found a Glock handgun with a trigger activator at the family home on Bates Avenue – where Lowe later returned to argue with his mother. A trigger activator is a device that allows a semi-automatic gun to be fired at the rate of a machine gun.

Officers arrested him at the home. He's currently being held in Ramsey County Jail and made his first appearance in court on Monday.

At the time of this incident, Lowe was out on a $100,000 bond related to charges filed in March, including being a felon in possession of a firearm and possession of an auto sear.