On a Saturday night in May of 2017, James Lamont Chapman, a 54-year-old Black male, was fatally shot in the city of Fridley, Minnesota. The events leading to his death began when he was invited to a residence on Osborne Road to conduct a marijuana sale. Chapman went to the home with the intention of selling marijuana to a man named Bryston Markeis Hill-Turnipseed.
Inside the home, Chapman and the homeowner were in a music studio in the basement to facilitate the drug transaction. After about ten minutes, Hill-Turnipseed, who was 35 at the time, left the room. He soon returned accompanied by another man, later identified as 44-year-old Johnny Earl Edwards. Without warning, Edwards produced a gun and shot Chapman once in his upper left chest. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Following the shooting, both Hill-Turnipseed and Edwards fled the residence. The homeowners were present during the incident and cooperated with the ensuing police investigation. The day after the deadly shooting, authorities located Hill-Turnipseed and Edwards in a vehicle at a gas station on Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis and they were arrested.
Both Bryston Markeis Hill-Turnipseed of Hopkins and Johnny Earl Edwards of Brooklyn Center were subsequently charged with second-degree murder in connection with the death of James Chapman. The homeowner identified Edwards as the man who shot Chapman during the drug deal that turned into a fatal encounter.
