On the evening of August 14, 2020, the life of Ronald Junior Smith, a 21-year-old Black / African American male from St. Cloud, was tragically cut short. His body was discovered around 6 p.m. in the lower level of a downtown Minneapolis hotel parking ramp located on the 400 block of 7th Street East. An investigation by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office would later confirm that Smith died from a gunshot wound to the head.
Initially, Minneapolis Police had no suspects in custody and began a homicide investigation into the young man's death.
Investigators soon caught a break in the case thanks to surveillance footage from the parking ramp, which captured images of Smith with another man shortly before the murder occurred. The search for this unidentified individual led Minneapolis investigators to interview a potential witness in a separate St. Paul murder case on August 20. When shown a photo from the surveillance footage, the witness identified the man with Smith by his street name, "Criddy." This tip proved crucial, leading police to 19-year-old Christopher Malik Todd of Minneapolis.
When questioned about Ronald Smith's death, Christopher Todd provided a dramatic but ultimately unbelievable account of the events. He claimed to have been in the passenger seat of Smith's Charger while Smith was in the driver's seat. According to Todd, a white Dodge Challenger appeared, and he warned Smith to duck just as a shooter fired through the window, striking Smith in the head. Todd told investigators that he was overcome with emotion, cried, and then moved Smith's body from the driver's seat to the floor of the parking ramp before driving off in the victim's car. However, investigators determined that the murder could not have happened in the way Todd described.
Christopher Malik Todd was subsequently charged with the second-degree murder of Ronald Junior Smith. The investigation revealed that after the murder, Todd used Smith's car in another violent crime. On August 21, Todd, his brother, and another man drove the Charger to a funeral at Hillside Cemetery. There, Todd allegedly opened fire on a Jeep he believed was occupied by a rival gang member. The occupant of the Jeep was actually an undercover corrections officer conducting surveillance at the funeral. Todd was also charged in connection with this drive-by shooting and was implicated in another homicide that occurred in St. Paul just days after Smith's death.
