On the evening of February 15, 2019, a 20-year-old Black/African American man named DeShawn McCabe of Minneapolis, Minnesota, traveled to the Crystal Village Apartments in the nearby city of Crystal for what he told his mother was a meeting to purchase an iPhone. Tragically, this arranged meeting in the 3000 block of Sumter Avenue North would be his last. Around 7:45 p.m., police responded to a report of a man down in the parking lot.
Upon arrival, they discovered DeShawn lying between two vehicles, suffering from a single gunshot wound to the chest. First responders attempted to save his life, but he was pronounced deceased at the scene.
In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, DeShawn’s family was left grappling with the senseless loss of a young father to a nearly one-year-old son. He was remembered by his mother as a man with many dreams who was excited about being a great dad. Authorities quickly determined that the homicide was not a random act of violence, believing that DeShawn and his assailant were acquainted and had arranged to meet at that specific location. Police identified a person of interest early in their investigation but did not initially make an arrest. The investigation continued for over a year as detectives pieced together the events of that fatal evening through interviews, forensic analysis, and the execution of numerous search warrants.
More than a year later, in April 2020, a significant breakthrough was made in the case. The Crystal Police Department announced the arrest of a teenage male in connection with DeShawn McCabe's death. The suspect, who was 15 years old at the time of the shooting, was taken into custody in St. Paul. At the time of his arrest, the suspect had turned 16 and was being held on suspicion of second-degree murder, with his case set to be forwarded to the Hennepin County Attorney's Office for formal charges. Police did not publicly release the name of the juvenile suspect.
