Carl Anthony Dobbs Jr., a 31-year-old Black man and father of three, had been looking forward to a night out on New Year's Eve. His mother, Pandora Reynolds, spoke to him just hours before he died. He had asked her when she was next going to cook one of her big meals for him, planning a road trip to visit. "He was just trying to have a little fun on New Year’s Eve," she said. Mr.
Dobbs, who lived in Canton, Minnesota, and worked in construction, was a beloved son and father.
In the early hours of January 1, 2020, Mr. Dobbs was at Johnny Baby's bar on University Avenue in Saint Paul. He arrived shortly before 1 a.m., and surveillance footage showed two other men, Trayvon Titus Anderson and Zollie Shamual Brown, entering around the same time. Inside the bar, Anderson sat next to Mr. Dobbs. After about five minutes, the two exchanged words and both stood up, but a crowd moved between them. Anderson and Brown then left the bar and waited in their Chevrolet Impala for about 25 minutes. When Mr. Dobbs exited and got into his own car just after 2 a.m., Anderson approached on foot and fired a gun repeatedly into Mr. Dobbs’s vehicle. Mr. Dobbs tried to drive away, but Anderson continued shooting.
An officer on patrol heard the gunshots and responded to the parking lot, where he found Mr. Dobbs’s car had struck a fence. Mr. Dobbs had been shot four times and was pronounced dead in the driver's seat. Investigators recovered 11 shell casings from the scene. After the shooting, Anderson returned to the Impala, and Brown drove them away from the bar.
Police quickly identified Anderson from the bar's surveillance footage. He was arrested on January 3 and initially denied being at Johnny Baby's that night. However, when investigators showed him a photo of himself from the footage, he admitted he was there. His accomplice, Zollie Shamual Brown, was arrested soon after. Anderson, 30, was charged with second-degree murder. Brown, 42, was charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding an offender to avoid arrest.
In November 2020, both men were sentenced for their roles in the killing. Trayvon Titus Anderson was convicted of murder and sentenced to 26 years in prison. The murder charge against Zollie Shamual Brown was dismissed, and he was sentenced to three years in prison for aiding an offender to avoid arrest.
