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Alleged drug dealer charged in St. Paul triple homicide
Prosecutors say 41-year-old Antonio Dupree Wright of Minneapolis drove up to the home on Case Avenue on his scooter, walked in wearing a ski mask and opened fire.
ST PAUL, Minn. — Editor’s note: Antonio Wright has since been acquitted of the charges stemming from the Sept. 4, 2022 shooting deaths of three people in St. Paul.
However, in December 2023, Wright was convicted of kidnapping and shooting a man in a separate incident that occurred just two days before, on Sept. 2.
A Minneapolis man is charged with murder in a shooting inside a St. Paul home that left three people dead and three others injured.
The criminal complaint filed against 41-year-old Antonio Dupree Wright lays out witness accounts of the shooting, and the potential motive for why it was carried out.
St. Paul police squads were dispatched to the home on the 900 block of Case Avenue East around 4:30 p.m. Sept. 4 on reports of a shooting. When officers arrived they found two people, referred to in the criminal complaint as SA and JC, who told them there were multiple people dead inside the residence.
Inside the door they found 42-year-old Cory Freeman face down with gunshot wounds to his head and torso. Maisha Spaulding, 44, was seated on a couch with a gunshot to the head, while 33-year-old Angelica Gonzales was in a corner of the living room, also shot in the head. All three were declared dead on the scene.
Investigators on the scene talked to SA, who told them the man who had shot them was named Antonio, alleging him to be a heroin dealer with ties to the Vice Lords, who he considered a “close friend.” SA said Antonio, who is also known by his nickname, Figg, had been paranoid in recent days thinking the feds were tracking him and people were snitching.
Authorities soon identified the alleged shooter as Antonio Wright.
SA said Antonio drove up to the house on a scooter, then walked inside the back door wearing a hoodie and ski mask. The witness said he greeted his friend, saying “What’s up, D?” SA says Antonio answered “I’m not D,” then raised a tan Glock 9mm handgun and shot Spaulding with no warning as she faced away from him. The defendant then allegedly shot Gonzales and Freeman as he attempted to flee. SA says Antonio then shot him three times before walking into a bedroom and shooting a person named JC. SA told police he rolled under a couch and played dead, and watched as Antonio Wright walked out and rode away on the scooter.
The witness referred to as SA told investigators he believes Wright thought they were snitching on him. He admitted he owed the defendant $500 for heroin, but did not think he would do “all this” for that amount of money.
Wright is also charged in Ramsey County District Court with kidnapping and attempted murder from a separate incident on Sept. 2, 2022. Wright put a gun to the head of someone who he thought had snitched on him after the man overheard Wright discussing a murder. Wright shot the victim four times after that man fled a vehicle he had been forced into.
Ramsey County prosecutors say a search of Wright’s criminal record shows eight prior felony convictions ranging from assault and armed robbery to drug possession and fleeing police.
Antonio Wright is being held in Chicago, awaiting extradition back to the Twin Cities.
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The chief was discussing the shooting of Davis Maturi, who for months had been contact with the MPD about escalating harassment from his neighbor, John Sawchak.
MINNEAPOLIS — Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said his department “failed” after a man was shot, allegedly by his neighbor in the city.
“We failed this victim. 100%, because that should not have happened to him,” said O’Hara in a Sunday evening press conference.
The chief was discussing the shooting of Davis Moturi, who for months had been contact with the MPD about escalating harassment from his neighbor, John Sawchak.
Sawchak was charged with shooting Moturi as he was pruning a tree on his front yard on Oct. 23.
Moturi remains hospitalized with a fractured spine, two broken ribs, and a concussion.
O’Hara and the MPD came under a heavy attack from the Minneapolis City Council after it was revealed that the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office had charged Sawchak, but the MPD had not arrested him.
“MPD still has not arrested the suspect despite charges from the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office for Attempted Murder, 1st Degree Assault, Stalking, and Harassment and a request from the HCAO for a warrant with $1 million bail. MPD told the HCAO they do not intend to execute the warrant ‘for reasons of officer safety,’” said the letter from the Minneapolis City Council.
“We failed to act urgently enough,” said O’Hara, before citing staffing concerns as a contributing factor.
It was a stark difference from the tone the chief initially took on Friday, then saying “If we wound up in a deadly situation, the headlines would read ‘MPD shot mentally ill person’.”
On Sunday, O’Hara said his previous comments were meant as a response to accusations that the MPD “didn’t care,” about the case.
“This is the result of over-politicizing policing in Minneapolis,” said O’Hara.
O’Hara stated that the MPD will, for the moment, continue waiting for Sawchak to exit his home to arrest him, but the chief added “We are running out of options before we have to escalate the matter.”
The heated back-and-forth between the city council and the chief continued earlier Sunday when Minneapolis City Council member Emily Koski released a statement questioning O’Hara and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey actions in the matter.
“Our Chief of Police is hiding behind excuses, and our Mayor…is just hiding.” said Koski in the statement.
Cities across Minnesota expanded voting hours and locations for the upcoming presidential election.
MINNEAPOLIS — Expanded early voting hours and locations are giving Minnesotans more opportunities to cast their ballots before the general election.
Over 1,000 people visited Minneapolis Elections & Voter Services over the weekend to make their voice heard.
“We have always voted as a family. We have this right as Americans to vote, and we wanted him to know right from the get-go that you’ve got to vote in every single election because this is our voice, this is our opportunity to really pick the future that we want based on the candidate that we vote for,” said Kelly Wallander.
Kelly and her husband, Claude, picked up their son Harrison from college, so they could all vote in the general election for the first time as a family.
“It’s interesting. It’s cool to see elections on TV, basically as long as I can remember, and now know that I’m a part of it and being able to vote with my parents is cool,” Harrison said.
“I like voting early just because exactly you miss the line and you get it in there,” Claude said.
Director of Elections and Voter Services for the City of Minneapolis Katie Smith said the past two days have been busy.
“We’ve had really solid turnout. We’ve had about 42,000 people who have already voted in this election,” she said.
She anticipates next weekend will be even busier.
“Every year we kind of looking at how many people we’re planning for and how many people are coming through. We try to always expand our service hours as we get closer and closer to the election,” she said.
Smith said they’ve also started using pop-up voting locations to reach more people.
“In 2023, there was a legislative change that allows for us to have sites around the city that are open for different lengths of time as well as different dates form our main site. We’ve really taken the opportunity to host some one-day early vote pop-ups… in some unique and really great spaces throughout the city,” Smith said.
Sunday’s pop-up was at the Capri Theater. Paige Gayle voted here along with her sister.
“I like early voting because it’s convenient, it’s fast and it’s quick,” she said. “I work on actual election day, so for me it was important to get out beforehand.”
Smith said offering more voting opportunities for people in Minneapolis is crucial to their work.
“It’s so important to be able to offer all of these voting methods so that people can find something that works really well for them and make their voting plan,” Smith said.
Voters tell KARE 11 one of the perks to early voting is little to no wait. Voting early also gives them peace of mind and is one less thing to do on election day.
“It’s so much more convenient. This way I don’t have to worry about it. I’ll still be working on election day, so I would have had to go in before or after work. Now, I don’t have to worry about it. I know my vote will be counted,” Macy Bauers said.
Bauers said she votes in every election and hopes more people take advantage of early voting in the coming days.
The two adults who were killed were both male, according to the department, which is investigating the shooting.
MINNEAPOLIS — Three people were shot, two of them fatally in a Minneapolis encampment on Sunday afternoon, according to the Minneapolis Police Department.
The shooting occurred on the 4400 block of Snelling Avenue shortly after 3 p.m., said the MPD.
The two adults who were killed were both male, according to the department, which is investigating the shooting.
A woman was also taken to the hospital after the shooting and is in critical condition, said the MPD.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
