MINNEAPOLIS — Two teens have been charged with allegedly shooting at a Hennepin County deputy sheriff’s patrol car on Interstate 94 while fleeing a burglary.
Damon Davenport Jr. and Rashad Collins, who are both 18 years old, each face one count of first-degree murder of a peace officer, one count of first-degree assault, and one count of fleeing a peace officer.
Charges say the incident stemmed from a burglary in Brooklyn Center; Police were alerted to the building near 57th Avenue North and Emerson Avenue North around 2:30 a.m. on September 15. The burglary victim identified Davenport and Collins by name.
The Hennepin County deputy was in his patrol car and learned that the alleged burglars had left the area in a white Ford Fusion. The officer attempted to initiate a traffic stop, but the Ford Fusion continued to drive erratically, documents say.
Near 51st Avenue North, the officer heard the sound of multiple gunshots. Then the Fusion continued onto Interstate 94 East and the officer followed with his sirens on, but a bullet hit the center of his windshield, sending shards of glass into the team. The deputy eventually pulled over and the police were unable to locate the Fusion that night.
Investigators found another 9mm bullet under the driver’s seat of the patrol car. There were five shell casings near Aldrich and 51st Avenue North and 19 shell casings on the highway.
The Ford Fusion, which was registered to Davenport, was found abandoned a day later about a mile from South High School in Minneapolis. Police found the gun used to shoot the officer during a raid on a recording studio on Prior Avenue North.
Davenport was arrested on September 16 and his cell phone was seized. In it, officers found a video from July of Davenport holding a 9mm gun on his lap with the same serial number as the gun firing at the officer. There were also multiple videos on the phone with Collins in them.
An FBI special agent found mobile phone records of Davneport and Collins, which indicated the location of the phones at the Brooklyn Center burglary in the early morning of September 15.
Both Collins and Davenport are in custody in connection with the Brooklyn Center burglary.
TBEN personnel
