A 15-year-old Fridley boy waived certification to adult court Wednesday and pleaded guilty in the October fatal shooting of a 28-year-old man in St. Paul’s North End neighborhood.

The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office originally charged Nehemiah D. Robinson Bowes by juvenile petition in the Oct. 12 death of Riccardo Anthony Fleming, who was shot 11 times at Woodbridge Street and Wheelock Parkway.

Due to his age — Bowes was 15 at the time of the killing — state law prevented the county attorney’s office from providing information about the case. Bowes was arrested in November at Fridley High School, St. Paul police said at the time, without naming him.

Fleming’s mother, Moneke Thomas, told the Pioneer Press in December that he grew up in Robbinsdale and was living in Nebraska. Fleming was visiting his father’s side of the family in St. Paul when he was killed.

“I would like my son to be remembered as a loving person with a good heart. He was so funny and outgoing, and the life of the party,” said Thomas, adding that her son loved dogs and recording music. “He didn’t deserve this. … I’m lost, I’m numb.”

Bowes pleaded guilty to the sole count of second-degree intentional murder. A plea agreement calls for Bowes to receive between 16½ and 21¾ years in prison. He remains jailed in lieu of $2.5 million bail ahead of his Sept. 5 sentencing.

The incident

Police responded to multiple reports of shots fired about 9:50 p.m. and found Fleming lying in the street with multiple gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at Regions Hospital.

Investigators recovered three spent 9mm casings on Woodbridge Street and eight more in the grass near an apartment building sign.

An autopsy showed Fleming had 11 gunshot wounds and that he died of blood loss.

Video surveillance showed Fleming and three other males lingering around a Volvo in an apartment building parking lot earlier in the day. At about 9:45 p.m., one male is seen running back to the parking lot, with others soon following.

Police identified the driver of the Volvo as a 31-year-old man who lived at the apartment. The man, identified in the complaint as J.C., told police in an Oct. 30 interview that he was approached in his parking lot by his friend, R.W., who was with a younger male and Fleming.

J.C. said they hung out and drank vodka and other liquor. He said the “vibe” between everyone was normal throughout the day as they drank and smoked together.

J.C. said that Fleming and the younger male walked up Wheelock Parkway. He said as he walked around the building, he heard gunshots and looked back and saw the younger male with a gun.

J.C. said that R.W. messaged him a couple of days later and apologized for putting him in danger and said something like, “I can’t have that little boy around me no more,” according to the complaint. R.W. said the younger male was “my uncle’s son.”

R.W., who lived at an adjacent apartment building, told police in an Oct. 31 interview that he and J.C. had nothing to do with the shooting. He said they were hanging out in the parking lot when Fleming approached them and said he made music. He said they all hung out and he thought Fleming was a nice guy, the complaint says.

R.W. told police that he later called someone to buy marijuana. As he was walking outside while on the phone, he heard gunshots and saw Bowes clutching a gun and running. He said he didn’t know why Bowes shot Fleming, that he had not noticed any tension between them.

R.W. told police that Bowes went to his apartment with the gun after the shooting and that the teen then threw it behind a nearby house, the complaint says.

Stole his father’s gun

Police discovered that two days after the shooting that Bowes’ father reported to Fridley police that his 9mm pistol had been stolen out of his gun safe. He said he realized it was missing the day he reported the theft, and that his 15-year-old son was the only person who lived with him.

St. Paul police executed a search warrant at the Fridley home on Nov. 6. Officers recovered a black Nike sweatshirt, which video from a Holiday store the morning of the killing showed the teen had been wearing, according to the complaint.

Police interviewed Bowes on Nov. 11. He said that in late September, around his 15th birthday, he was talking with R.W. about whether there were guns in Bowes’ home. Bowes told him they were in one of the safes. Bowes said R.W. then told him how to open one of the safes and that he saw a gun.

Bowes said he got mad at his parents one day in late September and called R.W., who told him to grab everything in the safe and come over, the complaint says. Bowes said he grabbed money, pills and a gun and went to R.W.’s apartment. He said he gave the pills and gun to R.W., who put the gun in a closet.

Bowes said he went to R.W.’s apartment to hang out on Oct. 12, the day of the killing. After all four were hanging out, Bowes said, R.W. told him that Fleming “gotta go,” the complaint says.

J.C. and R.W. left the apartment and came back with crushed-up white powder, Bowes told police. He said he snorted the powder and instantly felt mad and confused.

Bowes said Fleming asked R.W. if they had any “plays,” which he took as meaning a robbery, and R.W. stated, “for sure” and began calling people, the complaint says. R.W. then said that he set something up.

Bowes told police that he and Fleming walked to where they were going to meet the guys to rob. Bowes brought his father’s gun. When they got to the area where the robbery was supposed to take place, no one was there. Bowes said Fleming told him that R.W. was a “snake.”

They then saw J.C. and R.W. by the apartment building. Bowes said R.W. gave him a look. Bowes said he then pulled out the gun and shot Fleming, the complaint says.

Bowes said he and R.W. went back to his apartment and R.W. gave him a bag and told him to hide the gun outside, which he did. He said R.W. told him the next day to get rid of the gun and that he took an Uber to his father’s house and stashed it under some wooden stairs near a dog park.

On Nov. 11, St. Paul police officers searched the location described by Bowes and found the gun in a duffel bag.

Court records show that Bowes has no prior criminal cases.

Ramsey County Attorney’s Office spokesman Dennis Gerhardstein said Thursday that no additional cases have been presented for charging consideration.

Mara H. Gottfried contributed to this report.