Before a 19-year-old man was fatally shot in a car in St. Paul, a passenger mentioned that men from an opposing gang were nearby.
But another passenger thought the group was under the impression that Taishawn T. Smith was a different man because they referred to Smith by her boyfriend’s nickname, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Tuesday.
The Ramsey County attorney’s office charged Miklos Dates, 23, with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and attempted murder in the Payne-Phalen neighborhood shooting earlier this month. Two other people have been charged, but their files are sealed because they have not been arrested.
A 20-year-old passenger told the men that Smith was not her boyfriend, and Smith pulled off a hood from covering his head. But a man responded, “You know what time it is,” according to the criminal complaint.
The woman yelled, “I’m pregnant! I’m pregnant!” and tried to run from the car. She was shot and treated at Regions Hospital for through-and-through gunshot wounds to both her legs. Her fetus was not injured, according to police.
Smith was shot in the arm and twice in the back. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Police arrested Dates, of St. Paul, on Monday. According to the criminal complaint:
About 9 p.m. on Dec. 9, Smith drove two women to a small market on Payne Avenue near Geranium Avenue. When they returned to the car, the women saw a Chevrolet Cruze pull in front of them. Then, three men were standing by the driver’s side of their car.
Two of the men — Dates was not mentioned — belong to a different gang from a brother of one of the passengers. The passenger screamed at Smith to go because she sensed something bad was going to happen.
One of the men pulled a gun from his waistband and a gunshot shattered the driver’s side window. Officers on patrol heard gunfire and responded to the area.
The passenger who wasn’t injured told police, “They’re shooting at us!,” and pointed at the Cruze.
Officers saw three men run away from the Cruze. Police took the car’s driver into custody.
A witness reported seeing three young men pacing back and forth around a sedan and she said it appeared they were hiding. She said they “popped out from behind the vehicle and all three began to shoot multiple times,” according to the complaint.
The man who was in the Cruze’s driver seat said his friend, whom police identified as Dates, drove to the market. When Dates and two other passengers went into the store, the man slid over to the driver’s seat.
He said he began to hear “pops” and then the three men ran back to the car. The men yelled at him to drive when they saw a squad arrive, but he “refused because he knew he hadn’t done anything wrong,” the complaint said. That’s when the men got out and ran away.
Dates’ girlfriend later attempted to report her Chevy Cruze as stolen to police after Dates told her it was. Police found two 9-mm handguns in the back seat and a handgun in a glove in the trunk.
Dates has four prior felony convictions, including two burglaries, motor vehicle theft, and a federal felon in possession of a firearm case.
Police said their investigation into Smith’s homicide is ongoing.
In June, Smith pleaded guilty to a riot charge that stemmed from the March killing of a 19-year-old man in Inver Grove Heights following a fight between two gangs after they stepped off a party bus.
