On the early morning of May 29, 2020, James M. Cannon Jr., a 32-year-old Black / African American male from Saint Paul, Minnesota, was fatally shot in the city's West Seventh neighborhood. The incident occurred on the 1000 block of Otto Street, where Cannon had gone to meet his girlfriend.
While outside the residence conversing with another man, a voice was heard, followed by a single gunshot.
Cannon immediately fell to the sidewalk, exclaiming, "He shot me," before attempting to flee the scene. Officers later discovered him nearby on the 700 block of South Lexington Parkway with a gunshot wound to his chest. He was transported to Regions Hospital, where he ultimately succumbed to his injury. The medical examiner officially ruled his death a homicide.
Investigators arrested 28-year-old Nathan Sims of Saint Paul in connection with the shooting. He was subsequently charged with two counts of second-degree murder and held in the Ramsey County jail. Surveillance footage captured the shooting itself, but did not show the shooter. According to a witness who lived at the residence, there had been no argument or exchange of words before the gunshot. The witness told investigators that Sims had acquired a gun a few days prior to the incident and was seen with it in the house about an hour before the shooting. This witness confronted Sims after the shooting, but Sims denied any involvement. Another individual present at the home corroborated that there was no altercation leading up to the sound of the shot. When police informed Sims of their intent to test his hands for gunshot residue, he claimed to have fired a Colt. 44 into the air at a friend's house on a previous night. Court records indicated that Sims had four prior felony convictions.
