St. Paul teen pleads guilty to fatal St. Paul North End shooting

ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - A 15-year-old boy pleaded guilty to a 2024 fatal shooting in St. Paul's North End neighborhood. 

Investigators say Nehemiah D. Robinson Bowes shot the victim with a gun he stole from his father's apartment in Fridley.

READ MORE: St. Paul police investigate fatal shooting in city's North End neighborhood

Teen charged in St. Paul fatal shooting 

Big picture view:

Police responded to an area near the intersection of Woodbridge Street and Wheelock Parkway West for reports of a shooting around 9:50 p.m. on Oct. 12, 2024. 

Officers then found the victim, a 28-year-old man, suffering from 11 gunshot wounds. He later died at the hospital. 

Investigators then found video surveillance footage showing a group of four males gathering near a dark Volvo sedan with front-end damage on the afternoon of Oct. 12. The criminal complaint states the footage shows the group lingering in a parking lot. Other footage also showed "a smaller suspect" entering a nearby apartment complex on Marion Street shortly after the murder.

That smaller suspect, later identified as Nehemiah D. Robinson Bowes, was covering his face when he first entered the complex. 

Witness accounts 

What they're saying:

Police then spoke to one of the men in the group seen in the footage. That witness said they all spent the day drinking and smoking and that the "vibe" was normal, according to the complaint. 

The group was walking up Wheelock Parkway and "something didn't feel right." The witness noted that "the younger guy," later identified as Bowes, was further ahead with the victim when gunshots were fired. The witness said "he didn't see the shooting, but pretty much knew who did it," according to the complaint. 

A second witness, who was also in the group, identified Bowes as the smaller guy who goes by the nickname "Bean," adding that he was the only person near the victim at the time of the shooting. The second witness also said he saw Bean clutching the handgun and running after the shooting. The complaint notes that the second witness didn't know why Bowes shot the victim and there was no tension between them. 

Timeline:

Court documents show Bowes' father reported his gun missing on October 14 and that the only person who lives with him is his 15-year-old son. 

Police then searched Bowes home on Nov. 6 and recovered a sweatshirt similar to the one seen being worn by the "smaller suspect" in the surveillance footage. 

Bowes was interviewed on Nov. 11, 2024, and admitted to police that he shot the victim. The complaint states Bowes and the victim had planned to rob someone that one of the witnesses set up, but no one was there when they arrived. Bowes said he snorted some white powder earlier that night and that "he did not know what to do in that situation, whether it was the drugs or whatever," according to the complaint.

The gun was later recovered in a green duffle bag under some wooden stairs near a dog park, where Bowes told police he stashed it.

What's next:

Court documents say Bowes waived his right to a contested certification hearing and agreed to be certified as an adult. 

He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on July 16 and will be sentenced on the afternoon of Sept. 5.