A man has been charged in connection with a shooting at the Nicollet Mall light rail station in August, after he was arrested by Metro Transit police on Wednesday.
Michael Anthony Brown Jr., 37, is being held at Hennepin County Jail charged with 2nd-degree assault after allegedly shooting someone at the station on Aug. 27.
According to the criminal complaint, officers were dispatched to the station on 5th Street North, after receiving a report that someone had been shot on the platform.
When they arrived, officers saw the victim lying down in a pool of blood and saw blood coming from his right leg, and was taken to a hospital.
Hennepin County Jail Roster
The victim told officers he had gotten into a heated argument with Brown as they got off the train, where Brown called him a “pedophile” for allegedly looking at another woman at the station suggestively.
Eyewitnesses corroborated this event, with one telling officers she saw the two men arguing and exiting the train before Brown shot the victim. Another eyewitness detailed what Brown was wearing: a high-visibility orange shirt, a hat, and all-black clothing.
Officers reviewed the light rail surveillance footage, which showed Brown at the Franklin Avenue Station and the victim sitting a few seats away. A woman is seen exiting the train, and according to the complaint, the victim looks at her “in a way that suggests he finds her attractive.”
Brown is then seen saying something to the victim, and as the train enters the Government Center Plaza station, Brown tells the woman, “As long as I’m around you’re good love. Weird ass ******.”
Brown is allegedly seen with his right hand inside his backpack for most of the ride. As the train leaves, he shifts in his seat and manipulates what is in the bag as if he is racking a pistol slide, and the sound can be heard, according to the complaint.
Brown’s hands move from his bag to his waistband. The train pulls into the Nicollet Mall station, and as the victim exits, Brown waits on the threshold of the next door. He is seen following the victim off the train before yelling at him, allegedly saying: “Be a predator to me, don’t be a predator to a b****, be a predator to me,” and following with: “I’ll blow your dumb ass down, goofy, lucky there’s people around here.”
The video then shows Brown draw his pistol from his waistband and shoot the victim before fleeing back through the train and off the station.
Officers identified a card Brown used to pay for his bus fare and obtained video from all bus fare history. They then ran the collected photos through a face search and sent them to Brown’s probation officer, who identified the photos as him.
Brown has had multiple prior convictions leading up to the shooting, including two 3rd-degree assault charges in 2022 and two no-contact orders for domestic violence, one in 2018 and the other in 2019.
Brown’s bond has been set at $300,000 with conditions, and his first court appearance will be Oct. 4 at 1:30 p.m. The complaint states that more charges could be added later.
Source Agencies
