A 16-year-old St. Paul boy with a criminal history fatally shot a man outside a tobacco shop in the city’s Greater East Side neighborhood on Tuesday afternoon and fled on his bike, according to charges filed Friday.

The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office filed a juvenile petition against Knyaw Taw, charging the teen with second-degree murder in the death of 22-year-old Davion Lamonte-Paule Brown outside Maryland Tobacco at 1375 Maryland Ave. An autopsy showed Brown, of St. Paul, was shot multiple times and died of blood loss.

Knyaw Taw, who was arrested shortly after the killing, appeared before Judge Thomas Gilligan on Friday for a detention hearing. An interpreter was present through Zoom to translate the hearing in the Karen language, but Knyaw Taw told the judge it was not necessary. Karen people traditionally have only one name; they do not have last names.The hearing was continued until Wednesday after Knyaw Taw told the judge he wanted his grandfather, who is his legal guardian, to be present. Knyaw Taw said he thought his grandfather was going to be at Friday’s hearing. Knyaw Taw remains jailed ahead of the hearing.

Several of Brown’s family members were in the courtroom for the hearing, while his mother watched through Zoom.

Prosecutors have filed a presumptive motion to certify Knyaw Taw to stand trial as an adult, and a judge will take the motion under consideration at a later date.

Knyaw Taw has been arrested several times in Ramsey County and was wanted on an active Ramsey County warrant at the time of shooting, the petition says.

According to the petition, which does not give a motive for the killing:

Officers were sent to the tobacco shop just before 12:30 p.m. and found Brown in the store with multiple gunshot wounds. Medics started to transport him to Regions Hospital, but he was pronounced dead in an ambulance.

Officers reviewed area surveillance video, which captured the shooting. Knyaw Taw, wearing a mask, a maroon Nike T-shirt and blue jeans, pulled up to the area on a bike. He got off the bike and walked toward a red Ford Expedition sport utility vehicle parked in the lot.

“It appears as if the occupant(s) of the Ford Expedition and the suspect exchanged words,” the petition says.

Knyaw Taw then walked back to his bike, then toward Brown and two other men who were standing outside the shop. Knyaw Taw pulled a gun from his waistband and fired at Brown, whose back was turned toward him. Brown opened the shop’s door and fell to the ground. Knyaw Taw got back on his bike and fled the area.

Officers canvassed the area around the shooting and were notified by a citizen that a male matching the shooting suspect’s description was walking south on Germain Street from Idaho Avenue East.

A Ramsey County sheriff’s deputy located Knyaw Taw walking south on Germain Street at Sherwood Avenue. As officers approached him on Germain Street at Cottage Avenue East, he ran west, cutting across the front yard of a home in the 1500 block of Cottage Avenue East. He appeared to be holding something in the waistband of his jeans.

Officers chased him into a backyard, then lost sight of him. He was seen in the backyard of a home in the 1500 block of Clear Avenue East, which is south of where he first started to run, and taken into custody. A black face mask was found in the area.

Officers found a 9mm Smith & Wesson handgun in the backyard of a home along the path Knyaw Taw fled from officers.

ID’d by fingerprint database

Near the tobacco shop, officers located three bullet fragments on the sidewalk and seven cartridge cases with a Hornady 9mm Luger headstamp.

A man told police he was standing in front of the tobacco shop when the shots were fired. He said he had asked a man to buy him cigars because he didn’t have identification with him. Police showed him a still picture from the shooting and he identified Brown as the man who bought him the cigars.

A second man who was outside the shop told police he was having an argument with Brown over a woman and that Brown confronted him. He said he thought the shooter looked familiar but denied knowing him.

In an interview with police, Knyaw Taw gave false identification information. Investigators used a database that searches for known fingerprints to identify him.

Police test-fired the Smith & Wesson and a casing matched that of a casing collected at the scene.