Octavia Marberry charged, Good Samaritan free in vigilante justice killing

Octavia Marberry is facing two felonies for her role in the muggings.

​The Minneapolis Good Samaritan who caught Darren Evanocich in the act of mugging a woman and eventually shot and killed Evanovich will not be charged.

That's not the case for Evanvovich's sister, Octavia Marberry. This afternoon, the Hennepin County Attorney's Office announced that Marberry would be charged with two counts of felony aggravated robbery for her role in a series of muggings, during which she allegedly wielded a knife and helped Evanovich.

According to a statement from the county attorney's office, Marberry and Evanovich had just mugged a 59-year-old woman on the night of October 20, when an unidentified man drove up in his car. The man asked Evanovich to give the woman's purse back.

Instead, Evanovich pointed his gun at the Good Samaritan, who fired back and killed Evanovich in what investigators are calling a case of self-defense.

According to the charges and statement from the county attorney, Evanovich and Marberry, 20, were involved in at least three similar muggings between October 12 and October 20. The first is said to have taken place October 12, in the parking lot of a Target on East Lake Street. The second and third both happened at a Cub Foods on 26th Avenue South.

Marberry's felony robbery charges stem from the first and second of those alleged robberies. In those two cases, she's accused of pulling a knife on a 59-year-old woman and then a 56-year-old woman. In the first case, Marberry is accused of telling the woman, "I will cut you if you scream. We know where you live."

In the third instance, for which Marberry is not facing charges but was present at the scene, the target was a 53-year-old woman. According to the complaint, Evanovich hit that woman in the head with his pistol, and made off with her purse.

When Evanovich later stopped to go through the purse, the Good Samaritan, who'd witnessed the crime, drove up next to Evanovich and asked if he wanted to give the purse back. When Evanovich instead pointed the gun at the man in the car. The Good Samaritan, who has not not been -- and will not be -- identified by authorities, fired his own gun in self-defense.

In the statement announcing the charges against Marberry and the decision not to charge the Samaritan, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said that however honorable the man's actions were, they are not what law enforcement asks of its citizens.

"When he fired," Freeman said, "it was self-defense. While this man is to be commended for helping his fellow citizen in need, a note of caution is appropriate. We prefer that armed citizens do not chase after criminals. Too much can go wrong, with deadly consequences. It is our preference to have our highly-trained and armed police force respond in these kind of cases."

The crime of first-degree aggravated robbery carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $35,000 fine.

Previously:

• Good Samaritan shoots, kills man robbing and beating old woman