A St. Paul 19-year-old is facing several felony charges in relation to at least four shootings including one in which a teacher was grazed in the ear by a bullet.
Eh Doe Soe has been charged in four cases with at least 10 felonies across the cases including several charges of drive-by shooting and second-degree assault.
The charges span two incidents in January and two incidents in February of this year.
In one incident on Jan. 20 at St. Paul’s Washington Technology Magnet School located at 1495 Rice Street, charges say a fight broke out between several Karen students and about four black students as school was being dismissed.
School officials rushed in to break up the fight which also included two unidentified Karen adults. As the parties were being escorted away, one of them said, “this isn’t over” and “we’re coming back.”
As the black students were being escorted away in a different direction, one of them called out, “they’re coming back around” and “they’ve got a gun.”
The driver reportedly rolled down the window and fired shots from the Honda with a missing front bumper. Police later spoke to a staff member who had been escorting the black students away who said he heard several loud pops and felt something whiz by his head and then had pain in his ear. Police observed that the teacher’s ear lobe was bleeding, and he had a bullet hole in his jacket and shirt.
Police eventually recovered two .40 caliber casings from the scene, and a spent bullet was found on the sidewalk by a school official several days later which they believe had ricocheted off the building during the shooting.
Soe was arrested during a traffic stop of a vehicle suspected in a shooting in St. Paul in late February and was found with a .40 caliber Springfield handgun in his pocket — he did not have a permit to possess the pistol. The gun was loaded with an extended magazine. Police also recovered multiple cellphones and marijuana inside the vehicle. Soe admitted to buying the gun for $500 from someone on Snapchat. During a subsequent police interview, Soe admitted to driving a Honda with a missing bumper.
Police subsequently submitted test fired casings from the Springfield pistol for ballistics testing, and a preliminary analysis linked the Springfield XD pistol to the casings recovered at the shooting at Washington Technology Magnet School on Jan. 20, 2023, a shooting on Jan. 28, 2023, a shooting on Feb. 8, 2023, and a shooting on Feb. 12, 2023, charges say.
Soe admitted to being in a gang called “4 Times.” He said he joined the gang in middle school and has been fighting with black gangs for a long time because they made fun of the traditional clothes Karen kids wore and mocked them for being from a foreign country. Soe claimed the gang was formed because kids would beat and rob Asian kids. Soe said that the gang is now dissolved.
The complaint describes the other three shootings:
“Regarding the shooting on January 28, 2023, Soe stated that he and five other people in his Honda Accord drove around midnight to a[n] apartment complex on the 1000 block of Duluth Street where they believed rival black gang members lived. They intended to break into cars and create havoc in the parking lot when someone came out of the apartment building and confronted them. Soe claimed to give his Springfield pistol to a friend in the group who shot the victim and saw the victim limping after the shooting.
Regarding the shooting on February 8, 2023, Soe said that someone had seen the victim S.B. at a recreation center and his friends were having trouble with S.B. Soe drove his Honda Accord with the missing front bumper to the Rec Center to kill S.B. When Soe arrived, two of Soe’s friends approached S.B. who was with his girlfriend and then chased him and shot S.B with Soe’s Springfield pistol.
Regarding the shooting on February 12, 2023, Soe stated that he was a passenger in a red Honda Civic and had his Springfield pistol with him. They did not know the victim D.M and drove by him and felt that D.M. gave them a mean look so the middle back seat passenger shot at D.M. with Soe’s Springfield pistol and then returned it [to] Soe.”
Soe made his first court appearance on the charges on Tuesday and was granted a public defender. He remains in custody on bail amounts ranging from $150,000 to $300,000 in the cases.
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Minnesota Crime Watch & Information publishes news, info and commentary about crime, public safety and livability issues in Minneapolis, the Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota.
Crime Watch MN
Minnesota Crime Watch & Information publishes news, info and commentary about crime, public safety and livability issues in Minneapolis, the Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota.
