St. Cloud man charged with aiding and abetting murder in Tuesday shooting death
A St. Cloud man is suspected of firing a gun at a man who was later found dead of a gunshot wound, according to a Stearns County criminal complaint.
Paul Erving Coleman Sr., 52, of St. Cloud, faces one felony count of second-degree aiding and abetting murder without intent while committing a felony.
St. Cloud police responded around 7:44 p.m. May 24 to reports of gunshots in the 1200 block of 10th Avenue South. Officers found a man inside the rear door of a residence with a gunshot wound to the head. The man was pronounced dead at St. Cloud Hospital.
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Footage from a motion-activated camera at the residence showed the man in the backyard of the residence that evening. He was last shown at 7:23 p.m., according to the court document.
The camera motion sensors activated at 7:38 p.m. and showed two men, one of them identified by authorities as Coleman, near a detached garage facing the entry where the resident was found dead, according to the complaint. Coleman could be seen holding an object "consistent with a handgun," according to the complaint.
Coleman and the other man were seen running together toward a vehicle with another person in the driver's seat. Coleman is the registered owner of that vehicle, according to the criminal complaint.
As Coleman entered the vehicle, he appeared to fire at least one round toward the residence, according to the complaint, at approximately 7:38 p.m. Coleman and the man with him then entered the vehicle as the driver drove away.
A woman and her son found the victim and called police. She told investigators the man with Coleman had argued with the victim several times in the days before the shooting, according to the complaint.
The criminal complaint alleges the arguments were over a debt for contraband.
On May 26, officers located Coleman at a St. Cloud residence. They said Coleman's clothing had distinctive markings that matched the clothes of the shooter who entered Coleman's vehicle, according to the complaint.
Coleman appeared to have taken narcotics and was transported to St. Cloud Hospital, according to the charging document. He denied involvement in the shooting.