On a Wednesday morning, April 8, 2015, in North Minneapolis, 56-year-old Eddie James Pelmore was shot and killed. He was with another man, 47-year-old Odell Frazier, inside a parked vehicle on the 4500 block of Penn Avenue North. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner later confirmed that both men died from gunshot wounds to the head.
The incident was not a random act of violence, according to police, who believed the victims were targeted.
Two men were seen approaching the vehicle before at least one of them opened fire multiple times and then fled the scene on foot. It was later suggested that Pelmore had arranged to sell marijuana to one of the assailants. An officer in the area heard the gunshots and saw two men running from the location.
One of the suspects, 21-year-old Brian Deshawn Morse of Chicago, was apprehended by a pursuing officer shortly after the shooting. The officer witnessed Morse throwing a handgun over a fence, which was later recovered and confirmed to be the murder weapon. Blood was also found on Morse's pants, which he admitted came from the victims, though he initially denied being the shooter.
A second suspect, a 30-year-old Minneapolis man named Leland Ethridge, surrendered to investigators a few days after the incident following negotiations involving his family. While Ethridge was arrested, it is unclear if he was ever formally charged. Brian Deshawn Morse, however, was charged with two counts of second-degree murder. He later pleaded guilty to these charges and was sentenced to 55 years in prison. During his plea, he admitted to shooting both Pelmore and Frazier but did not provide a clear motive for the killings.
