19-year-old charged in shooting that injured three teens near State Fair charter school

A 19-year-old boy has been charged in this connection a shooting that injured three teenagers in St. Paul in early September.

Musharaf Zainab Arab faces three counts of attempted murder and two counts of drive-by shooting.

As previously reported, St. Paul officers were called to a report of a shooting near a charter school on the 1000 block of Snelling Avenue North on September 2 around 10:20 p.m.

There they found a teenager who had been shot in the leg. According to a criminal complaint, the teen told police he was walking to his friend’s car in the parking lot when he heard gunshots. He ran to the train tracks to escape the gunfire and realized he had been shot.

Officers found 53 spent shell casings under the Snelling Avenue bridge and noted that there appeared to be three separate groups of shell casings. There were 20 9mm housings in the middle of the road, 16 .40 claiber housings near the railroad tracks and another group of 17 9mm housings on another part of the road. Officers determined that three different firearms had been used.

Then they heard about two more victims: one had been shot in the calf and the other had a gunshot wound that entered near his earlobe and exited at the back of his neck.

One of the victims said he was in the parking lot when he heard what he thought were fireworks, according to court documents. He thought he had been hit by someone, but saw blood seeping through his pants and ran away. His cousin took him to the hospital.

The third victim said he was leaving the fair with his friends and was heading to a friend’s car when they heard more than a dozen gunshots. Realizing he had been shot, he fell and his friend took him to the hospital.

Both vehicles that took the victims to the hospital had bullet holes in them.

A man who was with one of the victims said he saw muzzle flashes under the Snelling Avenue bridge.

Surveillance video showed a blue sedan park under the Snelling Avenue bridge and several people getting out. Gunmen fired at the victims from the street and another shot from the train tracks.

The three victims were seen walking and running together in the parking lot when the shots were fired. Surveillance footage showed the gunmen getting back into the vehicle and leaving.

A few hours later, Ramsey Counties deputies responded to a drive-by shooting at a gas station in Little Canada. Surveillance footage showed a blue sedan in the area before and after the shooting. According to court documents, five 9mm shell casings and two .40 caliber casings were found at the scene.

Investigators determined that Arab was the owner of the blue sedan, and his cell phone pinged in several places showing the sedan’s license plate.

Cell phone records placed Arab at the scene of the Snelling Avenue shooting and the Little Canada shooting. Court documents show the same weapons were used in both shootings.