St. Paul man involved in fatal Frogtown shooting 2 years after release from prison: charges
Police investigate the deadly shooting in Frogtown. (FOX 9)
ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - A man faces murder charges after a deadly shooting outside a Frogtown apartment building that left one person dead and two people injured over the weekend.
Frogtown shooting
What we know:
Officers responded to reports of 20 gunshots near Edmund Avenue and Kent Street around 4:20 a.m. on Saturday, July 18. When they arrived, they found a crowd performing CPR on Da’Voncea L. Griffo, who had severe injuries to his face and head. Officers took over CPR until medics arrived and say they also faced difficulties controlling the crowd.
Griffo was pronounced dead in an ambulance at 4:38 a.m. The Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office later determined he died from multiple gunshot wounds and ruled the death a homicide.
Local perspective:
A 27-year-old woman, identified as MM, arrived at Regions Hospital that morning with a gunshot wound to her upper leg. She told police she was at an after-party when the shooting happened. Burke-Harris also showed up at the hospital in a dark Kia with a gunshot wound to his upper thigh. According to police, a bystander drove him there at the crowd’s request.
According to the complaint, a witness heard someone say, "Not here. Not here, bro," before the shooting started.
Dig deeper:
Investigators recovered 26 spent shell casings of three different calibers at the scene, with several found in the doorway and sidewalk near 565 Kent Street. Surveillance video reportedly shows Burke-Harris, first in a red hat and white t-shirt, walking to a car, discarding his hat, and putting on a cream-colored hooded sweatshirt. According to the complaint, video allegedly captures him returning to the building entrance, pointing at Griffo, and firing five shots as Griffo backed away.
Police say Burke-Harris admitted to being the man in the red hat and white shirt but denied being the shooter in the hooded sweatshirt. He told investigators his legs went numb after he was shot and that he fell to the ground without seeing who shot him.
Griffo’s stepmother spoke to police at the hospital and said family members witnessed Burke-Harris shoot Griffo.
Shooting after prison release
Timeline:
Burke-Harris was released from prison on July 18, 2024, after serving 14 years for a previous second-degree murder conviction. Exactly two years later, on July 18, 2026, the fatal shooting occurred.
On Monday, July 20, prosecutors charged Burke-Harris with second-degree intentional murder. The complaint states Burke-Harris has a previous conviction for a 2010 case for a deadly shooting. Police say he told investigators he had changed his lifestyle after prison and was not involved in violence or "gun games."
The backstory:
The shooting took place exactly two years after Burke-Harris’s release from prison for the previous murder conviction.