Charges: Men playing with guns before fatal St. Paul shooting

The brother of 21-year-old Jonathan Andrew Wade, who died of a gunshot to his head Wednesday in St. Paul, told police that Wade and another man had been playing with guns and the shooting was an accident, according to a criminal complaint against the shooter.

Ramsey County prosecutors on Friday charged Damound Jahema Franks, 22, of Maple Grove, with second-degree manslaughter, unlawful possession of a firearm and receiving stolen property in connection with the shooting at a house on the city’s North End.

An autopsy showed that Wade, of St. Cloud, also had a through-and-through bullet wound to his right hand, “indicating that the fired shot went through his hand before entering his head,” the criminal complaint states.

Franks was reportedly grazed in the head by a bullet and paramedics took him to Regions Hospital with a non-life threatening injury.

His girlfriend, Andrea Marie Thomas, 20, of St. Paul, was charged Friday with two counts of felony aiding an offender for taking a bag with two guns from the house, the criminal complaints say.

Officers called to the house on Manitoba Avenue near Park Street just before 11 p.m. found Wade in the upper unit. Paramedics pronounced him dead. A spent shell casing was found near his head.

Officers spoke to Wade’s brother, who said he was in the house with Wade, Franks, Franks’ sister and Thomas. He said he was in the living room with Wade and Franks, who had guns in their waistbands. He said Wade had a Smith & Wesson handgun and Franks had a Sig Sauer handgun, the complaint says.

Wade’s brother said he was playing a video game while wearing headphones, then heard a shot and saw Wade fall to the ground. He said he was not aware of an argument or dispute between his brother and Franks.

He said he confronted Franks, pushed him and asked why he shot his brother. Franks said he was sorry and he did not intend to shoot him, the complaint says.

Franks asked him to help remove Wade from the house, Wade’s brother told police. He said he refused, left the house and called 911.

Body-worn camera footage recorded by the officers who arrived first at the scene showed Wade’s brother “very emotional and upset,” the complaint states. He told officers that Wade and Franks accidentally shot each other. When asked if the two men had been playing with guns, he said that they were and then “motioned that they were pointing the guns at each other when the gun went off,” according to the complaint.

“He told another officer that they were playing, and the gun went off, ” the complaint states.

Meanwhile, a 911 caller reported that a female was hiding in bushes near the house. Officers found Thomas, who said she had arrived at the house but did not go inside because she heard gunshots.

Surveillance video showed Thomas drop a pink backpack in bushes after the shooting and before police found her, the complaint says. Police recovered the backpack, which contained two handguns.

Thomas later told police she did not see the shooting because she was in a bedroom near the living room. She said that before she entered the bedroom, she saw Wade “playing” by pushing Franks, the complaint states.

Thomas said she did not hear an argument and was not aware of a dispute between the two men. She said that she left the bedroom and saw both Wade and Franks bleeding. She said everyone was crying.

She told officers that Franks’ sister gave her the backpack and told her to leave with it, the complaint says. Thomas said she did not know what was in the backpack — that she did not open it — and left it in the bushes because she was scared.

The Sig Sauer gun was reported as stolen out of Sartell, Minn., on July 22, the complaint says.

Franks was arrested Friday and remains jailed on $1 million bail.

Thomas appeared before a judge Friday, and was released from jail after posting a $50,000 bond.

Franks is ineligible to possess firearms and ammunition. He was convicted of first-degree burglary in Ramsey County District Court in January 2021 and possession of a firearm by an ineligible person in May of that year.

Ramsey County spokesman Dennnis Gerhardstein said Friday evening that a case against Franks’ sister had not been presented for charges.

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