Two armed robbers in St. Paul were foiled earlier this week by an off-duty Ramsey County community service officer who happened to be driving by, saw them running and followed them, police said.
After the woman called 911, St. Paul officers caught up with the suspects’ car and pulled them over. The officers did not find guns right away, but they noticed a loose panel for the window and lock controls. Inside they found a gun hidden in a rear passenger door panel, according to a criminal complaint. Another gun was concealed in the other back door panel.
So far this year, St. Paul police have recovered and seized 181 guns — 110 during arrests, the rest found or turned in to officers.
The Ramsey County attorney’s office charged two men Thursday in the robbery and gun case from this week. Antwain Lovell Lee, 27, and Jimmie Gholson, 28, both of Minneapolis, face charges of first-degree aggravated robbery and possession of a firearm by an ineligible person.
It began on St. Paul’s West Side around 2:55 p.m. Tuesday when the off-duty community service officer, a civilian, saw two men running. They were tucking what appeared to be handguns into their waistbands near Baker Street and Oakdale Avenue, according to the complaint.
The woman spotted a man in the area and asked him what happened. He said he’d been robbed and later told police that a gun was put in his mouth. She turned her vehicle around, followed the suspects’ car and called 911, police said.
When officers pulled over the car in downtown St. Paul, they saw one of the suspects, later identified as Gholson, throw a backpack into the backseat. Police checked the bag and discovered it held the IDs and credit cards of two men who had been robbed, the complaint said.
As police continued to search the car, they found the hidden guns. One was a Smith and Wesson that had a magazine with 14 rounds and the other a Glock with a 31-round magazine, according to the complaint.
Police brought the men who were robbed to the traffic stop and they identified Lee and Gholson as the suspects, the complaint said.
During the robbery, two men with guns came from behind a wall on Oakdale Avenue.
One approached a 20-year-old and the other came up to a 21-year-old, and demanded their money. They got away with an iPhone and their wallets — one had $400 and the other $200.
Both Lee and Gholson are ineligible to have guns because of prior convictions: Lee for second-degree assault in 2010 and Gholson for a fifth-degree drug case as a juvenile in 2005, the complaint said.
Lee declined to talk to police and Gholson denied knowledge of the robbery. Both men are being held in the Ramsey County jail.
On Thursday, police highlighted other recent instances of guns being found:
- On May 10, a gun fell from a man’s waistband when he was running from officers in the 700 block of Dayton Avenue and police found another gun on the passenger side of the vehicle he had been driving. He’s been charged with possession of a firearm by an ineligible person.
- On Wednesday, police were called about a group of males standing in front of an apartment building in the 300 block of Wheelock Parkway. One was reported to have a “large gun.” When officers tried to talk to them, a male sprinted away. Officers saw him drop a gun, pick it up and keep running before arresting the 17-year-old.
“When we look at what’s going on right now — not just in St. Paul, but throughout the country — seeing increases in shots fired and gun violence, I’m very proud of our officers who are going out there and doing … proactive police work to make sure we’re doing everything we possibly can to interrupt gun violence and shots fired in our city,” said Police Chief Todd Axtell Thursday.