A Minneapolis man was ordered held on $1 million bail Friday afternoon on charges including second-degree murder in the shooting death at a house party in North Minneapolis.
Dontae White, 23, was also charged with felon in possession of a firearm in the death of 27-year-old Kevin Beasley just before 2 a.m. on April 18. His first court appearance Friday came after he was finally arrested in Chicago and extradited to Minnesota late last week.
The Star Tribune reports Beasley was the grandson of civil rights leader Spike Moss.
According to the criminal complaint filed by the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, Beasley and his roommate, who lived at 1124 Irving Ave. N., began planning a party at the home. Around midnight, White, his brother, Glenn Smith, and Kwaymont Milon showed up but were told to return later because the party had not started. The trio arrived at some point after the party got going.
However, during the party, Beasley, with a gun in his hand, confronted Smith about being at the party, the complaint states. Milon was standing next to Smith and also had a gun in his hand. When Beasley turned to say something to his girlfriend standing next to him, shots were fired and Beasley fell to the floor.
Numerous people ran out of the house, but the shooter came back into the room and fired more shots into Beasley, according to the complaint. Surveillance cameras showed White, Smith and Milon running out of the house and across the street to the area of 1114 James Ave. N. After that, Smith and Milon returned to a car parked on Irving.
White ran northbound in the alley behind 1131 Irving Ave. N., the complaint states. Videos captured him throwing his jacket onto a garage roof at that address and police recovered it. Police also found a semi-automatic handgun under a fence at 1114 James Ave. N.
Testing of the gun found that it fired the 9 mm discharged cartridge cases found around Beasley’s body, according to the complaint. In the coat that White tossed on the roof was a hat. Tests of hairs on the hat matched White’s DNA and pubic hair found on the gun also matched the DNA from the hat.
The complaint states that White has a violent criminal history, including a first-degree assault conviction from June 2015 which prohibited him from possessing a gun.
At Friday’s hearing, White’s next court date was set for June 17.
