Man arrested in St. Paul's first homicide of 2010
Police aren't saying whether the shooting death was intentional, but the men grew up together and were friends, according to a neighbor.
St. Paul police arrested 21-year-old Matthew Demetrius Sims yesterday on suspicion of homicide for the death of a St. Paul teenager. On Sunday afternoon, police found Justin Daniel Boecker, 17, dead of a single gunshot wound inside the home where Sims lived with family members, in the 600 block of Minnehaha Avenue.
Witnesses told police they'd heard gunshots and seen Sims run from the house. Investigators plan to present their case to the Ramsey County Attorney's Office today. Here's more on Boecker and Sims from the Pioneer Press:
"I don't think he (Sims) would up and kill Justin," said neighbor David London, who added the pair hung out all the time. "They never fought or nothing."London said he knew Boecker since he was a baby, living next door to him in the 600 block of West Minnehaha Avenue. Boecker came over Saturday to talk and told him Sims "had got a gun and was playing with it."
"I told him, 'Don't fool around with that, fool. You might get shot,' " London said.
The death is St. Paul's first for 2010, and the sixth for the Twin Cities this year.
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