Rondell Quantrell Dunn, a 25-year-old Black male, was fatally shot on the afternoon of April 17, 2017, in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The incident occurred around 2:17 p.m. on the sidewalk at the intersection of Fuller Avenue and St. Albans Street. Dunn was walking south on St. Albans when a man, walking north, passed him. After a few more steps, the man turned around and shot Dunn multiple times in the back.
Despite his injuries, Dunn managed to flee on foot and motioned to a nearby child to call for help before collapsing. Emergency crews arrived and transported him to a local hospital, where he later died from his wounds.
The investigation into the shooting quickly led police to two suspects: Matthew Michael Garland, 20, and his cousin, Silk Lesure, 23. Surveillance video from the scene captured the entire incident. During the shooting, the gunman, later identified as Garland, dropped a distinctive red Polo hat as he fled. Witnesses reported seeing a gold SUV leaving the area shortly after the gunshots. A crucial break in the case came when a woman reported being involved in a hit-and-run accident with a gold SUV on Dale Street around 2:23 p.m., just minutes after the shooting. She was able to provide the vehicle's license plate number.
Police traced the gold Saturn Vue to Lesure, who was arrested on the same day as the shooting in connection with the hit-and-run. Although he admitted to driving the SUV that day, he denied being in the vicinity of the shooting. Further investigation uncovered surveillance footage from a gas station six days prior to the homicide, showing both Garland and Lesure getting out of the same gold Saturn Vue to observe a gang fight. In that earlier footage, Garland was wearing the same red Polo hat that was recovered from the scene of the murder. DNA evidence from the hat, though containing a mixture from multiple individuals, likely included Garland's. Cell phone location data also placed Garland's phone in Minneapolis and Saint Paul on the days leading up to and including the day of the shooting, contradicting his claim that he was in Chicago. Garland was subsequently arrested in Chicago and extradited to Minnesota. Both men were charged with second-degree murder. Garland was later convicted of first-degree and second-degree murder for the death of Rondell Dunn.
